obscurechars2

This is the follow-up to the thread "Obscure DC Characters Questions"
that's been around this board for the past months. In that thread, DC experts
such as Mikishawm, Rich Morrisey, D.R. Black, and others helped me (and anyone else
who had questions to ask) clear out the whats, hows, and whys, of some of the more
forgotten (but not necessarily forgettable) inhabitants of the DC Universe.

More than 100 characters were explained, and that was a great and enjoyable ride
in itself. But since there seems to still be an interest in the thread, and since I
have more questions to ask...well, welcome to Round II. Maybe it won't be another 100
questions, but let's keep this running as long as anybody is interested.

So, if anybody has something to say or explain about these characters that I know very
little about, you're more than welcome.

If anything has anything to ask about other obscure DC characters, please do. Maybe
even I will be able to help with some of them.

Come join the fun.

/ola

HellstoneMember

posted July 12, 2000 09:24 AM

Oh, and here is the link to the old thread, for anyone interested:
http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum94/HTML/002273.html

/ola

Rich MorrisseyMember

posted July 12, 2000 10:29 AM

Next ten characters (numbering continued from the earlier thread):

101. Arsenal (Nicholas Galtry)

Nicholas Galtry was the guardian of Garfield Logan (variously known as
Beast Boy I and Changeling III). He was normally just an average (though evil
and avaricious) man out to get rid of Garfield for the fortune he was next in
line for; I think this was the name under which he fought Beast Boy and his
friends, the original Doom Patrol. Created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani.

102. Captain Invincible

This was Darryl Frye, one-time police chief of Central City. He decided to fight
crime under this costumed identity, much to the amusement of his employee, the late
Barry Allen (Flash II), but I don't think he ever got any farther than exercising in
his basement. Created by Cary Bates and Carmine Infantino.

103. Captain Strong

Captain Horatio Strong was a non-costumed sailor who appeared in several Superman
stories; he gained temporary super-strength from eating "sauncha," an alien
seaweed. (As is especially clear from the names of his best friend and fiancee,
J. Wellington Jones and Olivia Tallow respectively, he was a pastiche/parody of Popeye.)
Created by Cary Bates and Curt Swan (with apologies to Elzie C. Segar).

104. Davy Tenzer

An apparent teenager who's actually immortal, David (the name Tenzer was a recent
addition from an adoptive father) wields an old-fashioned sling and was hinted to be the
source of several legendary stories, like that of David and Goliath.
Created by Elliot Maggin and Mike Grell.

105. Hercules Unbound

The hero of Greek legend has, needless to say, appeared in many different incarnations
at DC. This version, by Gerry Conway, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Wally Wood, wandered
the devastated lands of an Earth devastated by nuclear and natural disaster,
tying in with other DC features as diverse as the Atomic Knights and OMAC/Kamandi.

106. Jan Vern, Interplanetary Agent

I have to pass on this one.

107. Jero & Halk

Halk Kar, an alien traveller briefly assumed by Superman to be his brother, was the
Earth-2 universe counterpart of Lar Gand (known on Earth-1 as Mon-El, and post-Crisis
as Valor and M'Onel). He appeared in SUPERMAN (1st series) #80, in a story by Edmond
Hamilton and Al Plastino. Jero I don't know.

108. Jim Corrigan of Earth-One

It's not at all sure there really IS a Jim Corrigan of Earth-1 who merged with
The Spectre (who was the ghost of his Earth-2 counterpart) or if The Spectre simply
assumed that identity while on Earth-1. They never seemed to exist separately, as
Corrigan and the Spectre did on Earth-2. Possibly the Earth-1 Jim Corrigan
was a black Metropolis policeman (although only his last name was ever given)
who appeared in several Jimmy Olsen stories circa 1972. This Corrigan was
created by John Albano and Jose Delbo.

109. Super-Duper

An artificial being materialized by small-time criminal Joe Parry, who'd gotten hold
of an alien machine. S/he was a composite of several JLA members, incorporating Wonder
Woman's head, Hawkman's wings, Green Lantern's power ring, and Flash's legs.
S/he faded away when the machine was destroyed, only to be revived by T.O. Morrow.
S/he was never shown to have any independent existence or consciousness.
Created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky.

110. Super-Hip

The subconsicous, uninhibited alter ego of Tadwallader Jutefruce, a strait-laced
genius student at Benedict Arnold High School who was the nephew of comedian Bob Hope
(in Hope's licensed DC humor title). Super-Hip's origin I'm not familiar with,
but it was probably due to one of Tad's experiments; his powers were vague but seemed
to amount mostly to transfiguration and mind-over matter. Created by Arnold Drake and
Bob Oksner, and not generally considered part of the DC Universe...even though he did
attend the Doom Patrol wedding of Rita Farr and Steve Dayton, also written by Drake.

Waiting for Miki's input...

So, if anybody has something to say or explain about these characters that I know very
little about, you're more than welcome.

a2-tonNew Member

posted July 12, 2000 12:59 PM

Halk and Jero were actually Kris-99(?) alien sidekicks. But that's about all
I know about them

Rich MorrisseyMember

posted July 12, 2000 02:59 PM

Edmond Hamilton (who also created Chris KL-99) often reused names, so it's not
surprising he reused that one. Aside from Halk Kar, there was Ronn Kar the
flattening Neptunian in the Legion, and Batman met a Martian policeman named
Roh Kar...Hamilton gave us enough Kars to fill a parking lot!

dataloreMember

posted July 12, 2000 05:23 PM

Arsenal (Nicholas Galtry) last appeared in TALES OF THE TEEN TITANS (mini) #3,
where he faced Gar Logan as Beast Boy for the last time (in this story, the distain
that Galtry used every time he used the "Beast Boy" name had helped convince Gar he needed
a new super-moniker! (And I don't blame Geoff & Ben - it's "the powers that be...")

MikishawmMember

posted July 12, 2000 08:52 PM

Garfield Logan's rotten guardian.

There's nothing I can add regarding Super-Duper, and Rich has covered as much
as I could have provided on Super-Hip. As for the rest ...

Nicholas Galtry, appeared in DOOM PATROL # 100, 101, 105-107, 109 and 110 (1965-1967),
losing custody of the green boy to Steve and Rita Dayton in the final issue. He didn't
appear again until 1982's TALES OF THE TEEN TITANS # 3, where he attacked
Beast Boy in the guise of Arsenal and revealed that he had hired an earlier
Arsenal to attack the Doom Patrol (back in DP # 113).

The Captain Invincible sub-plot was just -- odd. It seemed a bit undignified for
Daryl Frye. That particular arc (FLASH # 314-319) was darker than the norm (dealing with a
murderous vigilante called the Eradicator) and I suppose the antics of a
less-than-stellar costumed crimefighter were meant to provide some sort of balance. Frye
briefly returned to his costume in # 347 and 348. Waid & Augustyn's LIFE STORY OF THE FLASH
skirted over the subject of Frye altogether ("The less said ... the better.").

Captain Strong appeared in ACTION # 421, 439, 456, 566 and SUPERMAN # 361 (plus
a cameo in DC CHALLENGE # 10). An unnamed dead-ringer for Strong/Popeye can be found in
SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL # 72.

Davy Tenzer, modelled after Michelangelo's statue of David, followed his appearance
with Green Arrow and Black Canary (ACTION # 450-452) with another Elliot S. Maggin-scripted
episode in SUPERMAN FAMILY # 174. Once again, there were Biblical overtones, with Davy
helping Supergirl defeat a reptilian being who might be connected to the serpent of Eden.

HERCULES UNBOUND (1975-1977) was a personal favorite of mine amongst Gerry Conway's
output during the 1970s. Conway's run (# 1-6) also benefitted from the exquisite art
team of Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and Wally Wood. The premise had Herc breaking
free from millennia of imprisonment about a month after the outbreak of World
War Three. In short order, Herc befriends a blind teenager, Kevin, and his
dog, Basil (# 1). With issue # 2, the trio makes it to Paris, where they meet
the rest of the series entourage -- Dave Rigg, Jennifer Monroe and Simon St. Charles.

Ares lurks in the background for the entire six issues, finally confronting Herc in # 6.
In the end, they declare a truce, with Ares being granted his freedom in exchange
for restoring the life to Basil (killed in # 5).

Walt Simonson pencilled the latter six issues, with inks by Wood (# 7-8) and Bob Layton
(# 9-10) and Walt himself (# 11-12). David Michelinie scripted # 7-9, the last of which
featured the death of Dave Rigg and revealed the approximate date that the war had begun
-- October, 1986.

That, of course, had been the date established in John Broome's "Atomic Knights" series.
In mid-1976, Paul Levitz had penned an article that attempted to place all of DC's apocalytic
futures into a single timeline (AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS # 12). The Knights/Hercules
connection worked just fine, since both presented a near-future society that wasn't all that
different than our own. The problem was the suggestion that the pre-1986 society was the
highly advanced world of OMAC and that, eventually, Kamandi would exist in that world.
Indeed, HERC # 4 & 5 had even introduced humanoid animal races and mentioned their
KAMANDI # 16 origin.

Unfortunately, HERC # 10 (with Cary Bates signing on as the book's final writer) tried
to bring all the series together by picking up plot threads from OMAC # 8 AND featuring
the Atomic Knights. By the end of issue (set in early 1987), one of the Knights (Bryndon)
was dead -- despite his having survived well into the 1990s in the original series.

Even worse was the final two-parter's explanation for Kevin's mysterious powers
(hinted at in Conway's run) -- he'd been killed in issue # 1 and replaced by an Anti-Ares!
(AWODCC # 12 had hinted at another possibility -- Kevin's "rather extraordinary
ancestry.") All in all, the final three issues were a bit of a letdown, best
written off as part of Gardner Grayle's fantasy in DC COMICS PRESENTS # 57.

Conway later used Hercules in the present-day WONDER WOMAN # 259-261, dressed in the
Lopez-designed outfit (Simonson had introduced a new one in # 11) though Herc
was a villain in this context.

Jan Vern starred in two Gil Kane illustrated episodes in 1965's MYSTERY IN SPACE
# 100 and 102, only the first of which I've read. In that one, the blonde Vern (a man, just
to clarify) is an agent of Interplanetary Investigations (IPI) in our solar
system's future. A master of disguise, Jan investigates various evildoers and
spies and, in MIS # 100, helps free IPI's Agent X, a Sean Connery lookalike named Damos.

The Venusian scientist Jero and Martian Halk were both pink fleshed allies
of Chris KL-99 in STRANGE ADVENTURES # 1-3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15 and DC COMICS PRESENTS # 78
(though they weren't in the SECRET ORIGINS remake). Jero seemed to be of aquatic origin
will a green, gilled outfit while Halk had an elongated bald cranium and wore
a toga. Halk had exiled himself from Mars after accidentally damaged his
world's power supply. He restored Mars' power crystal in SA # 9 (reprinted in
the PULP FICTION LIBRARY collection) but chose to stay with his comrades.

Black police officer Corrigan (JIMMY OLSEN # 149, 150, 152) was rumored to have
been a candidate for an Earth-One Spectre when Joe Orlando rediscovered the series in the
early 1970s. Instead, Orlando went with the traditional Jim Corrigan and Jimmy Olsen's pal
popped up in a couple Leo Dorfman stories (JO # 163; SUPERMAN FAMILY # 167) before going
into limbo. Tony Isabella revived him in BLACK LIGHTNING # 4 and 7-9, finally officially
establishing his first name as Jim. After a final appearance in WORLD'S FINEST # 260, the
Metropolis cop was never seen again. (He'd be a good candidate for the SCU if you ask me.)

HellstoneMember

posted July 13, 2000 05:45 PM

We're rolling again.

I'll skip the obligatory thanks this time (you all know I love you anyway) and ask the
next ten instead...

I just have a moment tonight after posting my Mister Baffles bio over on the Batman
board but I wanted to check in.

"Class of 2064" was one of the better strips in 1984's NEW TALENT SHOWCASE.
The creation of Todd Klein, each arc focused on, as the name says, kids in the space-faring
graduating class of 2064.

The first episode (# 1-3, art by Scott Hampton) introduced Chryse Bantry, Pern Muller
and Tycho Kushiro as kids from the Lagrange Colony on Mars. They become involved with Free
Earth terrorists, who fought on behalf of the nuclear war-ravaged humans who
still lived on Earth. Issue # 7-8(art by Terry Shoemaker and Karl Kesel) spotlighted
Miranda Venezia, who joined her father on Lagrange-based space tours around Mars.

A question before I go --

Is Professor Brainstorm the JLA villain otherwise known as simply Brainstorm ?

HellstoneMember

posted July 13, 2000 08:55 PM

No, Professor Brainstorm was seen in MY GREATEST ADVENTURE. It might be a humor strip,
but I don't know...

/ola

MikishawmMember

posted July 14, 2000 09:14 PM

I'll do some checking on Professor B. In the meantime ...

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men ? The Shadow knows!"

"Evil is evil! The Clipper guesses! Heheheheheheh."

Unlike the better known mystery-man of the 1930s, the Clipper's chief concern
was that said hearts stopped beating. "Mason," he told his kid sidekick, "The
IMPORTANT thing's not if their guilty, the important thing's if their DEAD!
So I need someone to hold them down while I shoot them again and again and
again and again and ..." Well, you get the idea.

The story of the Clipper comes exclusively from the memory of Mason Trollbridge,
a man who claimed to be the kid sidekick of the early 1930s vigilante. "I was his assistant,"
Mason explained. "I carried the disguise and the extra guns." They'd first
met in 1931 when the Clipper saved the boy from bullies. "It impressed me
that despite his rigid standards and important work, he'd been willing to
stop and help a slum kid. It still does. As it turned out, he was drunk that
night. But the principle still holds."

Like the Shadow, the Clipper had multiple identities (which Mason helped him keep track of)
and wore a long-brimmed hat and trenchcoat, though his were brown rather than
black. One account indicated that his entire face was covered by a porous
blank mask (1988's FLASH # 20) while another depicted him with a
bandana-style mask and a thin mustache (FLASH # 23). "Those whom he did not
imprison or kill would find the tops of their ears clipped off, so they could
never pass for honest men."

Not content with merely gunning down thieves and murders, the Clipper made it his
business to pass judgment on anyone who committed a moral lapse. The father, mother and son
that the Clipper saved from a burglar were forced to atone for their own
crimes of bribery, adultery ... and breaking "Jimmy Allen's toy truck last week."

When things got too hot for him, the Clipper gave his costume and weapons to Mason and
left for parts unknown. Decades later, Mason was living in a low-rent apartment in Keystone
City, where he met Wally West, no stranger to life as a sidekick himself
(FLASH # 20, by William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRocque). When Mason decided
to take the persona of the Clipper as his own, Wally followed close behind
(FLASH # 23, by Loebs and Gordon Purcell).

It quickly became evident that Mason was just too nice to be a hard-boiled crimebuster.
He negotiated a deal between a suicidal, cash-strapped thief and his victim and stopped a
hold-up "because both the thugs and the victims were laughing so hard." When
Wally and Mason became embroiled in a battle with Abra Kadabra, the would-be
Clipper rammed his flaming car into the villain. "I though it'd be more fun,"
he observed, "killin' somebody that evil."

Mason mothballed the Clipper outfit but remained a staunch friend of Wally over the
next few years, serving as a surrogate for the young man's own estranged father.
Wally, as it turned out, filled a similar void for Mason, who hadn't seen his
son, Donnie, in years. That changed in 1992 when the young man returned as a
ruthless vigilante with an invisibility vest known as the Last Resort. As the
name implied, he was often "the only venue for the desperate and forlorn."
Father and son finally had a long overdue chat, the details of which remain
private (FLASH # 59-60).

One month later, the widowed Mason proposed to Leonora McDonald and spontaneously
turned the marriage ceremony of Wally's mother to Ernesto Varni into a double ceremony
(FLASH # 61). With a family of his own once more, Mason soon faded out of Wally's life.

Mr Know-what?Member

posted July 14, 2000 09:22 PM

Don't know where this fits in with your numbering (and don't mean to interrupt), but
I wonder if you have mentioned another Changeling other than Beast Boy--maybe
you have--but I recall a Changeling from ACTION #400 (I'm pretty sure that was the issue,
with a Neal Adams cover)--he was Superman's "son" (adopted) and died within that issue.

MikishawmMember

posted July 15, 2000 01:08 PM

No luck yet on Professor Brainstorm but I haven't exhausted all my resources yet.

I DO have an entry for ACTION # 400's Changeling, though. Once I've wrapped up the latest
list, I'll do a bio on him.

Today's bio is sponsored by Rip Hunter:

It was a discovery that would have made the 1940s coalition of scientists informally
known as the Time Trust green with envy. In 1943, while trying to create an invisible
warship, government scientists thrust the U.S.S. Eldridge into another plane,
"the dimension of the time stream."

One of those on the scene, Doctor Reno Franklin, reported that "I was one of many who
'got stuck' as we call it -- caught in between time and NON time. Before I came out of
it, I absorbed vast amounts of an energy we termed chronal radiation. Of all
those who 'got stuck,' I was the only one who survived without going mad. ...
We had somehow teleported the Eldridge through the time-stream from
Philadelphia to Virginia and back." Throwing a veil of secrecy over the
incident, the military asked Franklin to head up a braintrust to adapt the
chronal energy to a new type of aircraft "which would be able to repeat that
time-phasing at will."

Stationed in a hollow Utah mountain, the scientists began experimenting, creating devices
that the public would describe as flying saucers. It was soon discovered that time was
passing far more quickly outside the base than within. The radiation within
Franklin's body "was disrupting time in the whole area". By the time Franklin
encountered a trio of time travellers accidentally brought to the lab by one
of the saucers, he theorized that the outside world was now in the 21st
Century (1984's WARLORD # 79, by Cary Burkett, Pat Broderick and Rick Magyar).

The visitors in question were Travis Morgan, Krystovar and Shakira, three adventurers
from the other-dimensional Skartaris. When they accompanied Franklin into the outside
world, it soon became apparent that far more time had passed. It was now 2303
and the Earth had been ravaged by nuclear war. Joining with Franklin's
forces, Morgan freed the era's future United States from tyranny and then
vowed to use the time machines to prevent the war from happening in the first
place (WARLORD # 80, 82-85, by Burkett, Dan Jurgens and various inkers).

The small army succeeded but was thrust far back in time as a consequence. They landed
in ancient Atlantis, freeing the nation from the despot known as Lord Daamon. When
Morgan, Krystovar and Shakira encountered themselves from their first passage
through time (WARLORD # 79), the time-stream corrected itself and thrust the
trio back to their proper era (WARLORD ANNUAL # 3).

Franklin and his fellow scientists weren't as fortunate. With their time ships leaking
chronal radiation, they sought a safe location to house them and, to their
astonishment, found "the same cavern where we had built the ships so far in
the future! Apparently our experiments had created a unique phenomenon -- a
'rip'in the time-stream within the cavern ... so that cavern now existed
outside of time -- but could be entered from and exited at any point in the
time-stream, past or future. It was like a little pocket existing in all
times at once -- and a perfect place to leave the ships."

The scientists joined the Atlantean community, sharing their vast scientific knowledge
and inter-marrying with them. Rendered immortal by the 1943 incident, Franklin
finally went into seclusion, unable to bear the deaths of his now elderly
friends and companions. He learned that "with the unique nature of the
cavern, existing as it does as a corridor between time and nontime, the
chronal energies in my body allowed me to use it as a passageway from one
time period to another. I was able to slip the physical limitations of our
reality and travel the time-stream at will" (WARLORD # 86, by Burkett,
Jurgens and Mike DeCarlo).

Now wearing a hooded black bodysuit, its technological enhancements stored in decorative
straps on his torso, the Forever Man became a passionate observer of "the history of
peoples and civilizations. "Eventually, he paid visits to Morgan's wife Tara
(WARLORD # 80) and Morgan himself (# 86). Bidding them farewell, he noted
that "I suppose it has become something of an obsession with me -- to view
the history of man firsthand ... but after centuries of life, I find I am
more comfortable as an observer than as a participant in the human race."
Even today, The Forever Man remains on the fringes of the time-stream,
observing those like the Linear Men, who continue to defend its integrity.

John MooresMember

posted July 15, 2000 03:45 PM

Just briefly:

Mopee is a heavenly helpmate who allegedly caused the origin of the Flash; I'm
doing this off the top of my head so I don't know the issue #, but the year was 1967.
Mopee also appeared in an AMBUSH BUG comic, realting how Flash fans hate the story he
first appeared in because it buggered up continuity.

Surely Mr. Originality is from a "..Meanwhile" column c.1985, written by some
fan. The story told of how the fan left "The House of Ideas" in search of the long
departed Mr. O.. No physical appearance by said charcter....

HellstoneMember

posted July 16, 2000 01:49 PM

Originally posted by Mr Know-what?:

Don't know where this fits in with your numbering (and don't mean to
interrupt)...

Actually, you're MEANT to participate in this thread. I wouldn't want to be the only
one benefitting from it.

So, "the other Changeling" is now No. 121 on the list.

/ola

MikishawmMember

posted July 16, 2000 02:15 PM

Following up on John's post:

Mopee was a diminutive version of Julius Schwartz, with tufts of red hair on his
balding head and a green robe. He was a Heavenly Helpmate, commanded by his superiors to
bestow super-speed on one Earthman. Unfortunately, Mopee was supposed to use an item
owned by the recipient to transfer the power -- and the chemicals that
transformed Barry Allen into the Flash belonged to the Central City Police
Department. Because of the technicality, Mopee returned to Earth in December
of 1966 and stripped the Flash of his speed. At Barry's insistence, Mopee
restored his powers after the police scientist bought duplicates of the
chemicals so that the imp could replicate the accident. After Mopee had done
so and returned home, Barry realized that there was still a hole in the
Helpmate's story: the duplicate accident that created Kid Flash (THE FLASH #
167, by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Sid Greene).

Ultimately, the whole episode has to be written off as one of those nightmares that
Barry was famous for having. One can only wonder what the newlywed Iris Allen thought
when her husband talked in his sleep about THIS adventure.

As John noted, Mopee also turned up in 1984's AMBUSH BUG # 3.

The official account of Barry Allen's origin has been reaffirmed multiple times over
the past three decades, most recently in Waid and Augustyn's 1997 LIFE STORY OF THE FLASH.
As in SHOWCASE # 4, Barry gained super-speed after an errant bolt of lightning struck his
chemical work station and doused him in its contents. The account was modified slightly to
include a mention of the subject of the police scientist's scrutiny that evening,
a hallucinogenic street drug named ... Mopee.

It had begun on a balmy September day when Barry Allen's lunch was interrupted by a
gang of motorcyclists who assaulted a man named Andrew Rutherford in the street. As
the Flash, Barry rushed the victim to an ambulance and apprehended the trio.
Unknown to the hero, Rutherford had blinked out of existence a moment before
the attack and was replaced by another man who, in turn, vanished from the
ambulance and left bank president Michael Taylor in his place.

Meanwhile, the Flash was rushing to the Security Federal Bank, where Rutherford was
supposedly locked in a vault. The only person the Scarlet Speedster found, though, was
pop star Cosmo Puree, who'd materialized there in the midst of an airplane flight to
Metropolis. The profit motive, at least, had finally been explained. The
vault had been looted of millions! Trying to make sense of the bizarre
events, Flash sped to the location of the plane, creating an updraft to
catapult him into the still airborne craft. This time, he caught up with the
man at the heart of the mystery. Gray at the temples and clad in a purple
shirt, he vanished again -- supplanted by Arturo Basura.

"Whoever this guy is," remarked the speedster, "He's got the most original getaway
gimmick I've ever seen ... which is why I think I'll dub him Mr. Originality."

Running his hands through his hair that evening, Barry found himself chastised by Iris
for ruining the styling he'd just had done at Rasmussen's House of Hair. In the blink of an
eye, Barry had his connection. All the men had been at the hair stylist on
the same day that he'd been there. Making a quick trip to the salon, the
Flash learned that only two appointments for that day had yet to become
entangled in Mister O's scheme -- himself and magazine editor Julian Black
(also a pen name for a certain FLASH editor named Schwartz).

Black agreed to be observed by the Scarlet Speedster for any sign of activity but,
when the villain made his move, the Flash lunged too quickly, before Mister O had
fully materialized. He immediately teleported to a safer location -- only to
find himself in a jail cell with the Flash outside holding his belt pouch of hair.

"Far as I could tell from his confession," Barry explained to Iris, "It's a form of
telekinesis -- the power to move material objects -- he recently discovered he possessed.
By holding a natural part of a person's body -- like hair -- and concentrating
hard -- he could switch places with that person. After mulling over how to
profit from his new-found power, he decided to pull perfect crimes." Using
the bits of hair from his customers at the salon, the cosmetologist launched
a new career.

Having deduced much of this, the Flash had sped to jail, guaranteeing that, when
Mister Originality used Barry Allen's hair, he'd end up in a cell (1975's THE FLASH # 238,
by Cary Bates & Bob Rozakis, Irv Novick and Frank McLaughlin). These days,
Mister O has another career -- as a prison barber.

Weird But True Factoid: The only character from this story to appear again -- sort of --
was Cosmo Puree, whose Greatest Hits ("Just $6.98!") were hawked on a late-night TV
commercial in BATMAN FAMILY # 14's Man-Bat episode.

Re: Professor Brainstorm. Thanks to the Great Comics Database, I found him --
in a Hy Mankin-created feature in MY GREATEST ADVENTURE # 12 and 55 -- but I'm still no
closer to doing a bio. I'll keep plugging away on this one. You've piqued my curiosity.

MikishawmMember

posted July 17, 2000 07:58 PM

"The clients of Interplanetary Insurance, Inc. ranged all the way from the
microscopic plant life of Mercury to the magnetic monsters of Pluto. No
matter how bizarre the interplanetary life-form might be, I.I.I. was eager to
insure it. The only trouble as far as agent Bert Brandon was concerned was
that the supply of prospective clients had become exhausted, and he was faced
with the loss of his job unless he found someone -- or something -- to
insure." -- Sid Gerson, 1953's MYSTERY IN SPACE # 16 (with art by Carmine
Infantino & Sy Barry).

In the pilot episode, brown-haired, spectacled Bert Brandon sold a policy to the queen
of an immortal alien race called the Lullies "to the pretty premium tune of $1000
in credits a year ... We'll never have to pay off!" Almost immediately, the
beings found a loophole. Although they didn't die, the Lullies DID shed
bodies and take new forms. Pointing to his shell, the Lully asked "Can you
prove I am the same person you sold the policy to ? Of course not! ... Since
the body I once inhabited is dead, you must pay me $50,000!"

Panic-stricken that he'd bankrupt the I.I.I., Bert helped the Lullies defeat their
native enemies, the Kroques, by destroying them with a heat ray. In gratitude, the queen
"decided that your company does not have to pay off on our life insurance polices."
Meanwhile, the seemingly-dead Kroque also owed a debt to Brandon. Thanks to
the concentrated sunlight that he'd subjected them to, they were also able to
evolve into Firefly People.

"So, dear boss, I.I.I. is sitting pretty with a million Lully life insurance policies,
which we'll never have to pay off! And as soon as I get that raise I so richly deserve,
I'll go over to the dark side and sign up my grateful friends, the Firefly
People. They're immortal, too!"

Bert Brandon continued in that vein for ten issues (with Infantino assuming full art
chores in # 21) before wrapping up in 1955's MIS # 25. Space Cabby (previously seen in
tryouts in # 21 and 24) took its place in MIS # 26. Julius Schwartz reprinted
the pilot for I.I.I. in 1969's STRANGE ADVENTURES # 218 but the tepid reaction quashed
any hope of further episodes.

D. R. BlackMember

posted July 18, 2000 05:44 PM

Hellstone (or anybody else that may be interested in obscure characters)

In the current edition of Fanzing, I wrote a proposal for an ongoing Freedom Beast
series. Freedom Beast (aka Dominic Mnawe) is the successor of B'wana Beast, as seen in
Morrison's ANIMAL MAN run.

If anybody's interested in learning more about either B'wana Beast or Freedom Beast,
check it out at:http://www.fanzing.com/fanzing27/brainstorm.shtml

I don't want to sound like a shameless, self promoting huckster, but I kind of would
like some feedback, be it about the proposal, the history of the characters (if I got
anything wrong), etc.

My proposed series also incorporates just about every other obscure DCU hero/villian
based in Africa. Impala, Vixen, and Bentama (from the OUTSIDERS series - although I had
to change him a little since he was implied to have been killed).

Let me know what you think....please?

MikishawmMember

posted July 18, 2000 08:14 PM

The parasite would have its revenge.

After three years of incubating in the body of Captain Comet, the energy being had
finally found a suitable vessel in which to culminate its life cycle. The energy-wielding
L.E.G.I.O.N.naire known as Lady Quark would sustain the parasite's offspring
after it completed the procreation process (LEGION '92 # 45). Instead,
Quark's teammate, Phase, expelled the leach from Comet long enough to dupe
the being into taking refuge in a lump of bio-matter "encoded with Quark's
D.N.A." Horrified that "the cycle (was) broken," the shrieking parasite began
molding the matter into a body and screamed at L.E.G.I.O.N. commander Vril
Dox that "You ... have ... MURDERED meee!" (LEGION '92 # 46)

"I will turn this body into the engine of your destruction! ... You have tampered with
my very existence. You've trapped a creature of pure energy and intelligence in a
body of leaden flesh." Blasting into space, the Quark-based creature vowed
that "I will return when the advantage is mine, Vril Dox, and KILL you!"
(LEGION ''92 # 47, by Barry Kitson and Robin Smith)

Months later, a hysterical Marij'n Bek returned to L.E.G.I.O.N. headquarters on Cairn,
claiming to have been struck down by Lady Quark, who then killed Captain Comet on the planet
Ith'kaa (LEGION '94 # 62-63). A lucid Quark denied everything and Vril Dox
found himself unable to get to the truth of the matter. He opted for a covert
approach, requesting that L.E.G.I.O.N.naire Telepath secretly read Quark's
mind (# 64, by Tom Peyer, Arnie Jorgensen and James Pascoe).

The truth supported Marij'n's account but offered details that she knew nothing about.
The parasite had ambushed Quark en route to Ith'kaa, stealing her memories and
leaving her for dead in the void of space. Comet's own telepathy had
recognized "Lady Quark" for who she truly was and, therefore, he had to die
as well. Unfortunately for Telepath, the new Lady Quark had sensed his mental
probe and informed him that he would join Comet if he revealed anything.
Reluctantly, Telepath told Vril that "Lady Quark is ... telling the truth" (# 66).

Unable to stop the parasite, Telepath attempted to curb her evil actions and asked her to
intervene in a hostage situation without harming innocents. ("So you're
saying, if I want to impersonate Lady Quark, I must pretend to care what
happens to people ?") Her involvement in the crisis proved disastrous: She
captured the kidnappers alive but the hostages perished in the process.
Horrified, Telepath decided to enlist an ally and transmitted the truth about
the second Lady Quark to Marij'n (# 67).

Meanwhile, Vril Dox's megalamanical son, Lyrl, had aspirations of his own and sent out a
subliminally coded message to all L.E.G.I.O.N. officers that would bind them
to his will. The effect failed on Quark, who imagined that it was Vril's
doing and blasted into his office with the intent of murdering him. His
protestations led her to read his mind and she realized that "You're telling
the truth. I -- apologize" (# 69). Vril found the entire sequence of events
disturbing ... including the fact that "Quark uncovered this crime by using
mental powers she's not supposed to have (# 70).

Compared to Lyrl Dox, Lady Quark was the unequivocal lesser of two evils. She launched an
assault on the brainwashed team and its pint-size leader but, before she could fire a
blast of energy, Marij'n initiated an attack against HER.

"I know this LOOKS like Quark -- but it ISN'T. It just has her genetic CODE. And
fortunately, CODES can be unravelled." Using a device that Telepath had helped her create,
Marij'n fired the weapon at parasite and reduced it to dead matter (# 70).
Ironically, Lady Quark's death removed the only obstacle to Lyrl Dox's own
grab for power and the next several months saw his reign of terror grow
before Vril Dox, the R.E.B.E.L.S., Marij'n and a still-living Captain Comet
were able to restore order.

Tenzel KimMember

posted July 20, 2000 03:33 PM

Hi Ola.

It's great to see that you decided to continue this great thread. I just love to learn
more about these obscure characters that I too only have written down in my list of
characters but have no real knowledge of.

I've been extremely busy lately so I haven't had the time to visit these boards, but
hopefully that's about to change.

Anyway, just wanted to ask you if you've been making some profiles from the info gathered
in these post cause I'm about to make a major layout change to the Guide and it would be
lovely to have some new profiles to add. If you have been working on some but just haven't
finished them let me know which ones and I'll see if I can do some of the others myself.

Speaking of profiles, did you ever finish that update of your 'Hell' profile or should I
just use the old one?

I wish I had some info on some of the characters on your list but the only one I know
something about that hasn't been discussed is Sunburst and he already has a great
profile in WHO'S WHO #22.

The Who's Who profile has been modified a bit to explain his post-Crisis history. Instead
of fighting Superboy he was said to have fought the Japanese hero Rising Sun. But the
events of the encounter haven't been changed.

Sunburst appeared in NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY #45-47 (his origin appeared in #47) and
was next seen in CRISIS #12 in which he died.

curiouswandererMember

posted July 20, 2000 04:17 PM

I do not know if this was ever cleared up on your last thread since I didn't read the
whole thing, but Split never appeared in SUPERBOY & THE RAVERS. Split (as seen in
the cards and with the same name) was a member of a group called Team Hazard that appeared
in the early issues of STEEL. He was a wisecracking smart-alec with teleporting abilities.
The Wolfman data I have no idea about.

HeraldMember

posted July 21, 2000 01:30 AM

There is a second Sunburst, introduced by Grant Morrison in DOOM PATROL # 26. Like
his predecessor, he is a popular actor, helming Japan's most popular TV show. A news team
follows him everywhere he goes. He even has his own manga (that's Japanese for "comics", if
you didn't know).

Anyway, he was attacked by a strange woman for no apparent reason. ("She calmed down
after I broke her arms and legs.") Speaking with a doctor at the hospital she
was placed in, Sunburst found out that she has every power you haven't thought of.

As the doc put it, "The only way to strip her of her abilities is to think of all
the super-powers you can. As you think of them, she loses them." She is also
averse to dirt.

The two entered her padded cell, despite her protest that they're letting in dirt. Then,
two villains, Sleepwalk and the Fog, approached the cell. Sunburst was bemused by
the fact that Sleepwalk, was, well, walking in her sleep, and got punched
through a wall. The Fog kidnapped the woman. When Sunburst attempted to stop
their escape, he was attacked by the whirlwind of their ally, Frenzy.

Those three, along with the Japanese woman (christened "Quiz") and Mr. Nobody,
formed the Brotherhood of Dada.

I believe that was Sunburst II's one and only appearance.

Also, the first Sunburst made a "where-are-they-when-we-need-them" appearance
in a Dr. Light solo story in SHOWCASE '96 # 9.

Kid PsychoutMember

posted July 21, 2000 06:52 AM

Don't believe that's Sunburst 2. Crisis deaths don't always count.

Be wiser to consider it the original.

HellstoneMember

posted July 21, 2000 08:52 AM

Tenz, I haven't finished my update of the 'Hell' bio. But I will. Soon. So maybe you
shouldn't put the old one up yet. I also have additions to the "Key" (GOTHAM KNIGHTS #5),
"Elongated Man" (current STARMAN issues), and "Dial H" (the SILVER AGE event) biographies.

See ya in a couple of weeks.

/ola

HeraldMember

posted July 22, 2000 03:52 PM

Kid Psychout, his show was called "The Adventures of the NEW Sunburst".

Believe it. Sunburst 2.

HellstoneMember

posted July 29, 2000 04:01 PM

Is the first Lady Quark still dead?
How did the first Sunburst die? Killed by a shadow demon or something?
Did any of the Sunbursts have a real name?

/ola

MikishawmMember

posted July 29, 2000 05:45 PM

Yep, the first Lady Quark is still dead.

As for Sunburst (all of 'em), I hope to have the bio posted here this evening.

MikishawmMember

posted July 29, 2000 08:47 PM

The death of Japanese super-hero Sunburst during the Great Crisis was a
great blow to the country that he'd defended, doubly so when it was revealed
that he had also been film star Takeo Sato. The powers that Sato had exhibited
on screen -- flight, bursts of flame and bright light from his hands, the
ability to generate small volcanoes -- had not been special effects. Years
earlier, Sato had given his own account of how this had come to be:

"It started the day of my birth -- or so I am told. You see, I was born in a
tiny village, within sight of an active volcano. On the day of my birth, the
volcano was belching fumes prior to an eruption. Fumes, I imagine, that I
INHALED with my first breath.

"I never knew of any effect they had on me, and I grew up normally. Then, as
anadult, I decided to become an actor. I won the role of a costumed super-hero
in a low-budget production, and I had to learn to 'fly' on wires. It was nearly
my LAST day as well, for the wires holding me in the air SNAPPED. I screamed in
terror -- and next I knew, I was in FLIGHT! The studio decided to keep my
powers a secret, preferring to release my super-stunts as state-of-the-art
special effects" (1983's NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY # 47, by Paul Kupperberg,
Alex Saviuk and Kurt Schaffenberger).

Sunburst's natural powers eventually came to the attention of criminals, who
abducted Takeo's parents and blackmailed him into going on a crime spree as
Sunburst. The string of robberies soon drew the attention of Superboy, who
found that there was "more to (the marauder's) arsenal than mere sun-power and
flight -- such as superhuman speed and agility -- an incredible hardness of
body and mighty strength."

After a series of skirmishes with the Boy of Steel, Sunburst seized on a
moment of concealment to reveal the extortion plot and enlist Superboy in a
plan to capture the kidnappers. After his parents were rescued, Takeo related
his origin to Superboy and cursed the day he'd learned of his powers.

"Maybe I can help you with that, Takeo -- since it seems the secret to your
power lies in knowing how to USE it. But if I place a strong hypnotic block on
that knowledge, your powers SHOULD slip back into dormancy." The plan was a
success and the short career of Sunburst was brought to a close (NAOS # 45-47).

The post-CRISIS version of Sunburst's origin, according to WHO'S WHO '86
# 22, involved Japan's native hero, the Rising Sun, rather than the now
non-existent Superboy.

Flash forward a dozen or so years to Iran, where a wealthy oil baron named
Omar had finally discovered the origin of a jeweled globe that had been in his
family for centuries. "The eternal secret of total energy" was implanted in the
sphere "by a man whose name has been lost to antiquity." It was given to Omar's
ancestor for safe-keeping as the forces of Alexander the Great conquered Persia
in 334 B.C.

After eight years of searching, Omar learned that the globe possessed "power
enough to convert the sun's solar energy into a field of force -- transforming
a man into a human sunburst, and giving (him) strength enough to recreate the
Persian Empire." In a burst of energy, Omar adopted an armored uniform, his
exposed flesh turned blood red and his hair became a mane of fire.

En route to the United Nations to deliver an ultimatum, the flying Sunburst
had a chance encounter with a distraught Aquaman, only hours after the murder
of his son. The Sea King was swiftly defeated by the villain, who left him for
dead in the desert. Unable to use his aquatic powers, Aquaman found a small
basin of water that he rationed as he walked through the desert night. Spotting
a plane on the horizon, he used a metal can to make a glare and catch the
pilot's attention. "There's a certain irony here: sunlight was used to trap
this man, and now, appropriately, sunlight is used to free him."

Arriving in Bakushi, Iran, Aquaman found Sunburst making new threats at an
embassy. Dodging the villain's heat-vision, the Sea King declared that "my
desert experience taught me a man has OTHER powers than those based in his body
-- and THOSE powers -- his wit and cunning -- are the greatest powers of all!"
Pulling out a mirror, Aquaman reflected Sunburst's powers back at him, burning
out the solar tyrant's might (1977's DC SPECIAL SERIES # 1 -- a.k.a. "Five Star
Super-Hero Spectacular" --by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin and Jack Abel).

Within a few years, Earth -- and the universe itself -- found itself
imperilled by the threat of the Anti-Monitor. Heroes from all over the globe
were mobilized, including Japan's Doctor Light, the Rising Sun ... and Sunburst.
Through circumstances unknown, Takeo's knowledge of using his powers had returned and he
gallantly joined the defense efforts. Sunburst was killed in the skies over Tokyo, struck
down by a Shadow-Demon (1985's CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS # 12, by Marv Wolfman, George
Perez and Jerry Ordway).

Within months, the Sunburst name had been appropriated by a third person.
Timothy Walton had designed golden body armor, complete with glider wings, that
was powered by solar energy. Its defensive capabilities included bursts of
force and solar energy channelled through his hands. Unfortunately for the
would-be criminal mastermind, he attracted the attention of the Teen Titans
almost immediately and was ultimately blasted from the sky by Starfire's own
solar energy bolts.

The story might have ended there had the entire conflict not been observed
by the Wildebeest. The villain stole Walton's armor, used it to kill a business
rival and created a situation in which it appeared that Starfire had
accidentally slain the man herself. Thanks to Nightwing's detective skills, the
plot was exposed (1987's NEW TEEN TITANS # 36-37, by Wolfman, Eduardo Barreto
and Romeo Tanghal). Sunburst's armor, however, was never recovered and
presumably was adapted into the Wildebeest's catalog of weapons.

Meanwhile, in Japan, the legend of Sunburst was being continued by a media
savvy successor, whose every action was televised on "The Adventures of The New
Sunburst," described as "the country's most popular television show." Clad in a
costume loosely modelled after Takeo's, the new Sunburst could channel solar
energy through his hands but the full extent of his powers is unknown. In 1989,
Sunburst suffered a humilating defeat at the hands of the soon-to-be
Brotherhood of Dada (DOOM PATROL # 26, by Grant Morrison, Richard Case and John
Nyberg).

The legend of Takeo Sato was also revisited by Paul Kupperberg in 1991's
SUPERBOY # 18 (art by Jim Mooney and Kim DeMulder), set within the continuity
of the live-action TV series. In this version, Takeo was a film student at
Shuster University who produced and starred in the amateur production "Sunburst
Over Tokyo". Takeo had discovered a talisman in Japan that granted him solar
powers but members of the Yakuza tracked him to the U.S. hoping to use the
amulet for themselves. Superboy defeated one of the solar-powered thugs and
returned the talisman to Takeo, suggesting that the young man use the power
altruistically.

Instead, the aspiring filmmaker smashed the jewel, declaring that "I picked
my destiny years ago, when I decided to become a Spielberg instead of a
Superboy." As the Boy of Steel began to argue that someone else could have used
the talisman for good, Takeo pointed out that it could just as easily fall into
evil hands.

By the earlier 21st Century, groups of freedom fighters known as Team Titans
were being organized to combat the threat posed by Lord Chaos by being sent back
in time. One such agent was code-named Sunburst, whose "whole team was killed
in the time-transfer." On top of that, Sunburst had arrived three years earlier than
intended. "All (he) could do was wait." The solar Titan could encase himself in a
fiery force bubble and, like most of predecessors, was capable of generating solar
blasts through his hands. In 1993, Sunburst was attacked by a Chaos-drone
from the future and, despite an alliance with other factions of the Team
Titans, he was ultimately killed when the robotic manhunter fired a blast
into his chest (TEAM TITANS # 11-12, by Marv Wolfman & Tom Peyer, Gordon
Purcell & Frank Turner and Dave Simons).

A final Sunburst didn't appear until the 30th Century. In 2969, the Legion
of Super-Heroes faced a man in a red suit (with black vest and boots) who held
them at bay during a robbery at the Metropolis Mint. The costume was lined with
super-scientific devices that enabled Sunburst to "surround him(self) with an
electro-magnetic force-field," generate bursts of blinding light and fire the
requisite bursts of solar radiation. The villain was finally apprehended when
he was blinded by Shadow Lass.

Unknown to the Legion, Shadow Lass was being impersonated by Uli Algor, who
was working in tandem with Sunburst to convince the team that she was for real
as a prelude to stealing the secrets of the LSH. Shady's boy friend, Mon-El,
discovered the switch and brought the mimic to justice (1969's ACTION COMICS
# 379, by E. Nelson Bridwell, Win Mortimer and Murphy Anderson).

Summing up, we've discussed:

Sunburst I (Takeo Sato): NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY # 45

Sunburst II (Omar ?): DC SPECIAL SERIES # 1

Sunburst III (Timothy Walton): NEW TEEN TITANS (second series) # 36

Sunburst IV: DOOM PATROL # 26

Sunburst V: TEAM TITANS # 11

Sunburst VI: ACTION COMICS # 379

Hope this was worth the wait.

MikishawmMember

posted July 30, 2000 12:01 PM

She came from outer space ... but she was born on Earth. The woman with
green flesh, hair and antennae had been forced to make a crash landing in the
ocean when her spacecraft was fired upon by a being known as the Construct.
She'd been en route to find the only being on Earth who could protect her and
found him as part of a trio composed of Aquaman, the Atom and the Elongated Man.

The telepathic woman in the lavender body suit and wine cape identified
herself to the Justice Leaguers as Willow and begged them to take her to
Atlantis. "We must not be above water at all! The Construct's domain is the air."

The answers that the heroes received in Atlantis proved no less cryptic.
Willow would only respond that "this-one has come from a place she must not
name, to reach a place no man must know." Her enemy, the Construct, was clearly
a threat worth opposing, however, and he broke into the Atlantean communication
network with a promise to "destroy every human creature in Miami, Florida" if
the woman was not turned over to him.

Willow requested that Aquaman and the Elongated Man defend Miami while she
continue her journey with the Atom. Privately, the other two men believed that
the Tiny Titan wasn't up to the job but, given his recent bout with low self-
esteem, they kept their opinions to themselves. The Atom's assessment of
himself wasn't helped when Willow displayed a stunning expertise of the martial
arts in the course of their journey.

Arriving at an uncharted island, Willow was attacked by the Construct. The
robotic assimilation of Earth's electronic signals considered himself the
harbinger of a new era, one in complete opposition to the promise of life
represented by Willow. She urged the Atom to "shrink to the size of a true
atom" and destroy the creature from within. The gambit was a success and the
Construct's form exploded.

"This-one knew from the beginning what evil force had grown up to oppose her
since she left Earth -- and the sole means of overcoming it. Neither Aquaman
nor Elongated Man -- nor she herself -- could oppose the Construct on his own
airwaves. Only YOU could do that, Atom. This-one was attempting to reach you
when the cannons first attacked her, over the ocean."

Willow explained that she had left Earth, taken a mate and become pregnant.
"The lure of the stars paled, as the Earth called out for its daughter. In the
end, she has come home to the nest. Here, where no one will disturb her, she
will birth her child."

She assured the Atom that, even if the Construct were to reform himself, "it
will not know of Willow and her island. ... Already, YOU know more than ANY MAN
should. You will keep my secret, Ray Palmer ? You will give this-one her chance
for happiness -- and ask no more questions ?"

"Willow, I ... I ... I will!"

"Then, farewell," she said, kissing his bowed head, " ... forever."

Reunited with Aquaman and Elongated Man, who'd stopped the Construct's
forces, the Atom held his tongue. "To ALL their questions, now and in the days
to come, the little man with the big secret just smiles a smile to match"
(1977's JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 142, by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin and
Frank McLaughlin).

In another universe, Willow had been known as Mantis (AVENGERS # 112-135).
After becoming the Celestial Madonna, she took an alien plant being of the
Cotati as her mate and evolved to a higher state of existence. The object was
to create a child that straddled the lines between "flora and fauna, plant and
animal" (1974's GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS # 4).

After leaving Marvel for DC in the mid-1970s, Steve Englehart recalled in
Fantaco's AVENGERS CHRONICLES (1982) that fans were asking if this meant Mantis
would never be seen again. "Feeling playful, and feeling organic as always, I
decided to bring her back, in THE JUSTICE LEAGUE, complete with a disclaimer to
the Atom and Aquaman: 'I can't tell you who I am. If anybody knew I was back on
Earth, we'd be in big trouble!' And that went over well, and everybody knew who
she was. There didn't seem to be anybody who didn't understand"other than
editor Julius Schwartz "but I had explained to him what I was doing, and he
said 'Okay, whatever you say!'"

While working on a Madame Xanadu mini-series about the birth of a child of
evil in 1980, Englehart decided to revive Willow. "There's a sequence -- not a
big one -- in that thing where the Demon -- and this in the story's previous
incarnation -- or actually Jason Blood, I think goes to an island in the South
Pacific and meets her, and she says, 'Yes, my name is Willow, and the gods are
trying to create this child in order to combat my child who is the force of
good,' and so on and so forth."

In the end, DC rejected the proposal and Englehart and Marshall Rogers ended
up revamping the story. As SCORPIO ROSE, it was published by Eclipse as a
three-issue arc in 1983. Issue # 2 revealed that Willow (as Lorelei) had given
birth to a son and spent the last several years quietly raising the child in
Connecticut.

Eventually, Englehart returned to Marvel and, with him, came Mantis. One of
his assignments was a twelve-issue SILVER SURFER series that would feature
Mantis and her now-seven-year-old son, Sprout. Still living a peaceful
existence in Connecticut, mother and child used their powers to help the Surfer
fight the Mangog. Sprout was capable of transforming himself into a mobile
tree! In the end, an attraction had sprung up between the Surfer and Mantis.

Plans changed and Marvel decided that an ongoing SURFER series might be a
better course of action. Working with Marshall Rogers again, Englehart
eventually fit Mantis into the second draft at the end of 1987's SS # 3.
In # 4, she explained that "a time of solitude has come for (Sprout), and he
needs his mother not. Thus, this one reappears. And THIS time, this one lives
as the Cotati do, under whatever conditions -- and she moves from world to
world as surely as blood courses and sap flows."

The original version of the mid-1980s SILVER SURFER series (illustrated by
John Buscema and Jack Abel) was finally published as an out-of-continuity
episode in 1990's MARVEL FANFARE # 51.

HellstoneMember

posted July 30, 2000 01:16 PM

Okay. I'm back.

Did you ever find out anything about this Professor Brainstorm character,
Miki? I'm as curious as you are.

Although I have a modest collection of DC westerns, Mike read them ALL on my
behalf a few years back, providing me with raw data that I never could have
accumulated on my own. I'll be tapping into that as I write up info on the
western heroes that you asked about. On top of that, Mike also came through on very
short notice with a synopsis of the first Changeling story, which I'd never read.

Feel free to offer your thanks to him. I know that I plan to!

And now, on with the show!

In 1947, no one had ever heard of a metagene, the theorized element that
would trigger super-powers if the body was subjected to sufficient trauma. That
surely must have been the case with Erik Razar, an inmate who was electrocuted
while trying to shut down the prison power supply in an escape attempt.
Instead, Razar found that he now possessed the ability to become any animal
that he chose, whether it be an ape, tortoise, rhino, bird, elephant or shark.

The Changeling found himself opposed by the Flash and, in a desperate battle
beneath the sea, the drowning Scarlet Speedster smashed his foe's shark-head
against a rock before he could take the form of an octopus. Justifying his
actions with the explanation that "it was him or me," the Flash recovered the
Changeling's body so that scientists could determine what truly caused Razar's
metamorphosis (FLASH COMICS # 84, art by E.E. Hibbard).

Whether Erik Razar was truly killed is unknown. His name and his powers,
though would live on in years to come. In 1965, Tomar-Re, the Green Lantern of
Xudar, found himself in opposition with a second Changeling, an energy-being
that was the sole survivor of the world of Krastl. As a survival mechanism, the
Changeling was forced to assume the guise of other beings and objects at
regular intervals. After a Xudarian archeologist was left comatose when the
Changeling took his form, Tomar-Re pursued the parasite to Earth.

There, Earth's GL, Hal Jordan, ascertained the being's weaknesses, notably
the fact that it could only transform itself into an object that already
existed. As the Changeling prepared to mimic a stuffed toy, Hal obliterated the
object and the nuclear menace was trapped in its insubstantial true form, not
unlike a mushroom cloud (GREEN LANTERN (second series) # 38, by Gardner Fox,
Gil Kane and Sid Greene).

The 1971 death of Superman's friend, Jan Nagy, was followed by a second
shock when the scientist's will made the Man of Steel the guardian of his son,
Gregor. The young man reacted angrily to the news, screaming that he hated
Superman. Following Gregor to his room, Superman was stunned to see him
transform into a gorilla. "YOU did this to me, my guardian! YOU placed the mark
of the beast on my brow ... and for that you will pay!"

As the effect wore off, Gregor revealed that his condition had been caused
as a result of Metamorphon, a synthetic element created by his father. Superman
rushed to prevent catastrophe when the atomic furnace containing the element
ruptured. Advised that "only hydrogen can slow down and halt that runaway
reaction," the Man of Steel threw the kiln into the Nagy swimming pool where,
despite Superman's efforts, a nearby Gregor was affected.

He soon learned that the slightest suggestion would cause him to
involuntarily take new shapes and forms. A wish to vanish turned him into an
invisible man while a desire to fly from a bully transformed him into a bat.
Regarding himself as a freak, Gregor became a recluse and broke up with his
girlfriend, Denise.

Determined to channel Gregor's powers for good, Superman convinced the
teenager to let him train him in the use of his powers. Codenamed the
Changeling, Gregor soon put his talent to good use, unearthing a stolen fortune
for the F.B.I. and driving away a band of poachers in Africa.

The Man of Steel's efforts seemed to have no effect and the bitter Gregor
even discovered Superman's Clark Kent alias just to taunt his guardian. While
tampering with switches in the Fortress of Solitude, the Changeling
accidentally triggered a self-destruct mechanism in a space station and
Superman was forced to make an emergency rescue.

While Superman was absent, a life-or-death call was received at the Fortress
and the contrite teen wished that he had the hero's powers. On cue, the
Changeling gained the power of his guardian and, wearing a Superman costume, he
raced to the bottom of the sea to recover a submarine and its crew. The
transformation wore off in mid-rescue and only the arrival of the genuine Man
of Steel prevented total disaster.

For Gregor, though, it was too late. His body crushed by the ocean pressure,
he had only enough time to gasp out his gratitude for Superman's efforts on his
behalf. "At least I die -- not as a beast -- but as a man. A WHOLE man."

"Gregor ... son ..."

"You called me ... son. Thanks! I'd have been proud to have a father like you."

Dying, the Changeling made his final transformation, turning to dust in the
arms of his surrogate father (ACTION COMICS # 400, by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan
and Murphy Anderson).

Elsewhere in the globe, there lurked a fourth Changeling, a European
assassin and metamorph who ended his career as a free agent to join the international
terrorist cell known as the Cartel. The assassin's costume consisted of a
camouflage-style design against a gaudy orange background while his identity
was concealed by a blank face-plate. The loud outfit belied the Changeling's
unique abilities, which he used in March of 1980 to take the form and voice
of a French crimelord and kidnap the man's daughter. Trailing the assassin
and his partners to an undersea base, Wonder Woman ruptured the stronghold
and the entire band of criminals was taken into custody (WONDER WOMAN # 268,
by Gerry Conway, Jose Delbo and Vince Colletta).

And elsewhere, Garfield Logan was fighting his last battle with his former
guardian and current super-villain, Nicholas Galtry. Weary of Galtry's taunting
him with his Beast Boy codename, Logan told the reeling bad guy that "you've
SPOILED that name for me. Now I gotta CHANGE it" (1982's TALES OF THE NEW TEEN
TITANS # 3, by Marv Wolfman, George Perez and Gene Day). Reuniting with Wonder
Girl and Robin in August of 1980, Logan insisted they "call me Changeling.
'Beast Boy' was for the birds, er ... no offense, Robin!" (NEW TEEN TITANS
(first series) # 1, by Wolfman, Perez and Romeo Tanghal)

But that's another story

MikishawmMember

posted August 01, 2000 05:44 PM

I'm babysitting my niece this evening so I'm going to cover the characters I know the
least about. As noted, this data comes exclusively due to the generosity of Mike T.

Arizona Raines debuted as Arizona Ames in CRACK WESTERN # 63 (1949) but
was forced to change his name almost immediately (effective with # 66), presumably
because famed Western novelist Zane Grey already had a character by that name.
Under his revised name, Arizona continued through CRACK # 84 (1953). He had a
horse named Thunder and a kid sidekick named Spurs. Spurs' horse was Calico.
Art on the strip was primarily by the renowned Reed Crandall though Paul
Gustavson contributed some stories, as well.

Two-Gun Lil also appeared in CRACK WESTERN # 63-84. She was Lillian Peters
and frequently joined forces with her Uncle Mike Peters (no relation to the
editorial/MOTHER GOOSE & GRIM cartoonist). Art on the strip was by Pete
Morisi, perhaps best known as PAM on Charlton's Thunderbolt series in the 1960s.

In early episodes, Rick (no last name)was portrayed as a blonde with blue
hat and jeans and a red shirt. By 1950, though, his appearance had stabilized
and he was consistently depicted with brown hair and a white hat and shirt. He
rode a horse named Comet and met the occasional "name" villain -- the Great
Kazoo (# 36), the Jungle Hunter (# 47), the Black Bandana Bandit (# 65) --
amidst dozens of ordinary owlhoots of the late 1800s.

As his name indicates, Rick was a rodeo rider and a champion at that. More
than one story observed that he held riding and roping records across the
boards. In one cute story, Rick's stature worked against him when he learned
that crooks were preying on rodeo prize-winners. The villains wouldn't strike
at Rick, given his record of catching law-breakers, so he adopted an alter-ego
-- the Masked Stranger -- clad in a BLACK hat and shirt (plus white domino
mask) and proceeded to break his own records. Sure enough, the bandits attacked
the Stranger but soon found themselves brought down by a master. After the
masked man had left town, Rick returned to the rodeo circuit. At the end of the
day, it was announced that he'd regained his title as "world champion cowboy."

In the final panel, Rick remarked to the reader that "catching (those
bandits) wasn't half as hard as breaking all my own records TWICE in two days"
(WESTERN # 58).

darkowlMember

posted August 05, 2000 01:02 AM

Everybody had better get this clear, especially DC! Lady Quark is NOT dead!
Come on, you have to admit that was a lame, stupid way for her to die and I don't buy it!
Bring her back man, bring her back!

MikishawmMember

posted August 06, 2000 08:19 PM

For what it's worth, whatever her official status, I don't think she's dead either.

Another bio that owes its existence to Mike Tiefenbacher:

Katherine "Kit" Colby was the "girl sheriff" of Moonbow and relatively unique
among Western strips in that her adventures took place in the present. Specifically those
adventures occurred from 1949 to 1952 in JIMMY WAKELY # 1-13, 16-18. Art was by Carmine
Infantino & Frank Giacoia in the first episode with subsequent issues
pencilled by Giacoia (# 2-5), Gil Kane (# 6-10) and Irwin Hasen (# 11-13,
16-18). Bob Lander inked all of Kane's episodes and all but the last two of Hasen's.

Kit rode a horse named Whitey (referred to as Flash in # 1) and her supporting cast
included her father, Judge Colby (in JW # 1, 3 and 8) and Deputy Jess Sayers (# 7-13, 18).
She fought the Tumbleweed Kid in JW # 7 ("The Stranger From Sunburst Bend").

MikishawmMember

posted August 07, 2000 07:53 PM

From ALL-AMERICAN WESTERN # 103 to 106 (1948-1952), Tony Barrett delivered mail
and packages across the Old West aboard the Overland Coach which
simultaneously thwarting bandits and solving mysteries. She rarely stopped to
accept accolades, though, commenting in AAW # 112 that "I'm a working girl
and the Overland Coach is behind schedule now!"

Based out of Laredo, the blonde young woman, who owned as well as drove the stagecoach,
wore a buckskin shirt, blue jeans and gray gloves. Tony's brother Billy, a few years
her junior, appeared in some of the earlier episodes (AAW # 105, 106). Tony
fought the Salinas Kid in AAW # 118.

Frank Giacoia pencilled "Overland Coach" through AAW # 113 and Gil Kane continued for
the duration of the run.

MikishawmMember

posted August 08, 2000 08:34 PM

Lt. Dan Foley of the Fighting Fifth Calvary Regiment began his adventures in
ALL-AMERICAN WESTERN # 103-126 (1948-1952). When that magazine was cancelled
Dan joined Johnny Thunder in moving to ALL-STAR WESTERN (bumping Don
Cabellero and the Roving Ranger in the process). Foley debuted in ASW # 66,
Johnny in # 67. Foley remained a fixture in the book through # 115 in 1960
(missing only # 108 due to the Silver Age rewrite of Johnny's origin). The
Trigger Twins made their final bows in ASW # 116 and Johnny Thunder closed
out the final three issues with Super-Chief in the back-up slot.

Dan's horse was identified by name as Charger in AAW # 123 and Blaze in ASW # 94.
Based at Fort Desolation, Foley reported to Colonel Henry, whose daughter Terry showed
up in the early Kubert episodes (AAW # 105, 108-110) but vanished when writer
Goldsmith left. Late in the run, Broome featured the Colonel's niece, Nancy,
in one story (ASW # 101). Dan's partner, an Indian Scout named Wingfoot, made
several appearances in ALL-AMERICAN (# 104-107, 118, 120, 121) but didn't
make the move to ALL-STAR. The only other recurring character was a
Broome-created inventor named Professor Phineas in ASW # 70 and 74.

Villains of note were the Highwayman (Reginald Torbin) in AAW # 104 and King Rikon in
AAW # 105. The last issue of ALL-AMERICAN WESTERN (# 126) introduced a female heroine known
as the Fighting Redhead.

Only one "Foley of the Fightin' 5th" story has been reprinted. The Broome-Infantino-Giella
episode from AAW # 124 can be found in SUPER DC GIANT # S-15.

MikishawmMember

posted August 12, 2000 07:33 PM

In what may well be the biggest bust since the Comet Kahoutek, I have details on
Professor Brainstorm. I got a copy of 1961's MY GREATEST ADVENTURE # 55 today
and discovered that it (and presumably the other episode in MGA # 12) is a
half-page humor strip by Hy Mankin.

The Prof wears the trademark cap and gown, glasses on the end of his nose and has curly
white hair and muttonchop sideburns.

In panel one, he explains that "if I don't prove my time machine works, the university
will dismiss me. ... I know! I'll make a trip to 1,000,000 BC and bring back PROOF!"

The Prof climbs into a primitive metal locker while the Dean puffs that "he'll never make
it! ... The machine's stopped -- let the old fool out!"

Professor Brainstorm offers the Dean a large egg as proof but the skeptic smashes it. "An
egg's an egg! YOU'RE FIRED!"

In the last panel, a newborn dinosaur licks the Dean on the face.

You've gotta admit, Super-Chief will look good after this!

HellstoneMember

posted August 13, 2000 07:31 AM

Humor strip, you said?

/ola

MikishawmMember

posted August 13, 2000 04:51 PM

ALLEGED humor strip, anyway.

Introduced in the twilight of DC's original run in the Western genre, Super-Chief
was the creation of writer Gardner Fox and artist Carmine Infantino, featured in a mere three
issues of ALL-STAR WESTERN in 1960-1961 (117-119) before that title was cancelled.

"In the years before white man set foot on this continent, he was the greatest warrior and
mightiest hunter of the Wolf Clan of the Nations. His name, Flying Stag, was
honored and revered by his people." When the Royaneh (Supreme Chief) of the
Nations died, Flying Stag was dispatched to take part in a contest to name his successor.

With the young Indian's victory a certainty, several of his rivals conspired to trap him
in a pit. Unable to escape, Flying Stag prayed to Father Manitou -- the Great Spirit --
to help him. His selfless plea on his tribe's behalf and his promise to sacrifice his
predestined role as Royaneh by not competing in the contest did not go unnoticed.

The voice of the Manitou declared that Flying Stag would serve him. "Your strength shall be
a thousand times that of the bear -- your speed greater than the swiftest deer -- your
leaping prowess beyond that of the wolf! ... From this moment on you shall be
called Saganowahna -- Super-Chief! A chief above all others, even above
Royanehs. And yet, so that you may aid your people, you must go to the
Council House and enter the contest for Royaneh of the Nations. Yet because you have
sacrificed personal glory, you shall not compete as Flying Stag -- but as Super-Chief."

At Manitou's command, Super-Chief flew from the pit, found a chunk of a meteor and
fashioned an amulet that he wore around his neck. Each time the rock glowed, the hero
would be granted his great powers for approximately one hour. "You will soon
come to a black buffalo felled by lightning. From its hide, you shall fashion
leggings moccasins, and horned mask. This shall be your garb as Super-Chief."

Inevitably, Super-Chief won the contest and saved the tribes from the vengeful trio of
clan chiefs that had imprisoned him earlier. Returning to his village, Flying Stag
learned that his betrothed, White Fawn, had been forbidden by her father to
marry him because of his failure to participate in the tournament. "Instead,"
she continued, "Father says he is determined that I marry Super-Chief!"

In the final two episodes, the Native American Superman also got his own version of Jimmy
Olsen, White Fawn's "bratty brother Lightfoot." During a temporal crisis,
Saganowahna was pulled hundreds of years forward to July of 1985. The sight
of a flying Indian and his tribesman rushing towards the space shuttle in
Florida was enough to draw similarly time-displaced 1940s heroine Firebrand
into action. After an extended battle, Firebrand learned that the true object
of Super-Chief's attack was the being inside the shuttle -- the
Ultra-Humanite (ALL-STAR SQUADRON # 54-55). With Ultra's defeat and the
cessation of the time disruption, Saganowahna returned to his own time period.

Long-term exposure to the meteorite gave Super-Chief a degree of immortality, allowing him
to survive more than three hundred years. When last seen, Super-Chief had succumbed to
dementia and was in the custody of Bat Lash. Though no longer capable of
rational speech or thoughts, Saganowahna still possessed his full complement
of powers for sixty minutes of each day and used that strength to smash a
crystalline menace in 1872 (1989's SWAMP THING # 85).

More than a century later, the legend of Super-Chief was revisited once more. In 1997,
a young Indian came into possession of the meteorite amulet and agreed to force the
residents from the town of Dry Gulch to make way for a gambling resort.
Superman eventually brought the new Saganowahna to justice but the circumstances
behind his acquistion of the amulet and the fate of his successor remained
unrevealed (ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN ANNUAL # 9).

The first Super-Chief story was reprinted in 1971's SUPERMAN # 245 and his
WHO'S WHO entry appeared in WW '86 # 22.

BgztlMember

posted August 15, 2000 05:44 PM

Obscure is right. Holy Cow.

I have a question, but, by comparison, it's an easy one. I have heard that Mark Merlin was
changed in Prince Ra-Man in HOUSE OF SECRETS but I though Mark Merlin was a Golden Age
feature. Are they the same?

What were his/their abilities? Where did they appear?

I guess that's really two characters I'm asking about then:

131. Mark Merlin (Golden and Silver Age or the same man?)

132. Prince Ra-Man (Mark Merlin? or someone else?)

Thanks for any replies.

SuperstoneMember

posted August 17, 2000 08:29 AM

Mikishawm, thanks for the Super-Chief bio. I always liked that character.

I've thought in recent years that the name of "Super-Chief" was a takeoff on the term
"Super Chief" from the world of trains. Does anyone know for sure?

Are there any train aficionados out there? The term "Super Chief" is used for big
locomotives in at least two Bugs Bunny cartoons which came out some years
before the DC character Super-Chief debuted. In one of them, where (I think)
Bugs goes out west and encounters Yosemite Sam, there is a second or two of
footage showing the front of a train. The front is labeled "Super
Chief" and has a logo of a muscular Indian wearing a big headdress, cape,
and on his chest a Superman symbol (or Superman-like symbol).

Does anyone know if "Super Chief" was a specific company that made trains, or the
name of a line or route, or just a generic name for a big train? Any help would
greatly be appreciated.

I guess it puts new meaning to the term "More powerful than a locomotive...."

SuperstoneMember

posted August 17, 2000 08:34 AM

I meant to say that I didn't think that the real Super Chief trains actually had a
logo patterned after Superman. I figure that was just a Looney Tunes gag, but I also figure
there must have been a real Super Chief term or brand than inspired the gag. Thanks.

MikishawmMember

posted August 19, 2000 07:56 PM

Superstone -- Thanks for the fact about the Super Chief locomotive. It's possible that
it did inspire the name of the hero.

Bg -- Hopefully, Mark and the Prince will be covered here tomorrow.

As for today ...

The story of Pow-Wow Smith played out in the pages of DC's comics in reverse order,
beginning in the present before moving to the past. Created by Don Cameron (who wrote at
least the first six episodes) and Carmine Infantino, the Indian lawman
operated in 1949-1953 from DETECTIVE COMICS # 151 to 202. Infantino left
after ten episodes and Leonard Starr (# 161, 163, 175-202) and Bruno Premiani
(# 162, 164-174) continued as artists on the series.

In 1953, the series was relocated to WESTERN COMICS, where Julius Schwartz
replaced Jack Schiff as editor with # 43. Returning to the character he'd
launched was Schwartz stalwart Infantino, who pencilled (and frequently
inked) the series for the duration of its WESTERN run. France Herron scripted
the first half (# 43-60) while Gardner Fox wrote the latter (# 61-85).

Pow-Wow's arrival in the book was heralded on the cover, where he became the new lead
feature, bumping the previous star, the Wyoming Kid, to the back of the book. Gone altogether
was the Cowboy Marshal series. With Pow-Wow's second installment (# 44), the series
underwent another alteration when the locale was moved back seventy years to the 1880s.

As related in WHO'S WHO '86 # 18, "Sioux Indian brave Ohiyesa ('The Winner') left
Red Deer Valley and his tribe to learn more about the world of the white man. His expert
skills at tracking and handling a gun enabled him to win a job as deputy sheriff ...
While still a deputy, Ohiyesa was given the name Pow-Wow Smith by some
townspeople. Though he used his Indian name with the tribe, he eventually
began to call himself Pow-Wow when among the white men. Once he became
sheriff, Pow-Wow spent most of his time living in Elkhorn, only rarely
returning to Red Deer Valley."

Gardner Fox deviated from the episodic nature of Herron's scripts and began to introduce
recurring characters, the first of whom was Tony Morley, the Fadeaway Outlaw. Morley
debuted in WESTERN # 62 (1957) and returned in # 73 (1958). The Fadeaway Outlaw wasn't a
true super-human but used a variety of tricks and disguises to make it seem that he could
vanish.

WESTERN # 73 also introduced Pow-Wow's deputy, Hank Brown, who had announced his
intent to resign after he married his girl friend Sally Ann. Hank refused to leave
until the Fadeaway Outlaw was in custody, much to his fiancee's chagrin. On
the morning of the nuptials, the villain was captured and Pow-Wow made it to
the church in time to serve as best man. Hank evidently changed his mind
because he became a regular within a few issues, appearing in # 76 (mis-identified
as Jim Hathaway), 77 and 79-83. Sally Ann Brown popped up in # 81.

WESTERN # 78 (1959) featured a nice story about Pow-Wow's relationship with the people
of Elkhorn. Young Tommy Walters, excited about his birthday party, asked the
sheriff when his own birthday was. "I'm a Sioux," Pow-Wow explained. "and we
don't know the exact day we are born. The closest I can get to my birth date
is -- the second day after the big buffalo kill during the Month of Shedding
Ponies (approximately May) in the Year of the Plenty Buffalo."

After listening to the story, Tommy's father decided to "get in touch with
the territorial governor." In short order, the entire town of Elkhorn was
conspiring to hold a surprise birthday party for the sheriff. When the big
day arrived, the locals were on pins and needles as each new crisis threatened to take
Pow-Wow away from the festivities. When he took off in pursuit of bank robbers that
evening, the townspeople despaired that he'd never return in time.

With less than fifteen minutes until midnight, Pow-Wow locked the bandits in a cell only
to hear dozens of voices singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He was presented with a
scroll "signed by the President and Congress of the United States" that
"makes you an honorary citizen of the United States and legally declares your
birthday to be May 15th from now on." For the document to be binding, it had
to be presented to the recipient on his designated birthday. As two of the
local men raised Pow-Wow on their shoulders, the delighted sheriff proclaimed
it "the most fantastic thing that ever has happened to me -- and the most wonderful!"

A footnote added that "it wasn't until 1924 that the Federal Congress passed legislation
making citizens of all Indians born within the continental limiits of the U.S.A.
Until then only individual Indians or tribes had been so honored."

The final four WESTERN episodes (# 82-85) introduced Ohiyesa's fiancee, Fleetfoot.
Issue # 84 expanded the family further with the introduction of Pow-Wow's twin brother,
Horse Hunter. According to Sioux custom, "when twins are born, one of them is
given away, to avert the anger of the evil spirits. My parents gave me to the
Blackfeet to raise for their own." After seeing the sheriff's picture in a
newspaper, Horse Hunter deduced what had happened and travelled to Elkhorn.
Had WESTERN not been discontinued with # 85 (1960), Pow-Wow's strip might well have played
with some of the same plot devices as the recently discontinued "Trigger Twins" series.

WHO'S WHO '86 # 18 revealed that Ohiyesa and Fleetfoot eventually married and that the
Pow-Wow who appeared in DETECTIVE # 151-202 was their namesake descendant. "This
Ohiyesa attended college in the east, then returned to Red Deer Valley,
seeking to bring his tribe into the wondrous 20th Century. He too became a
lawman and took the name Pow-Wow Smith, but he continued to live in Red Deer Valley."

The early 1970s saw a minor Western revival at DC and ten separate Pow-Wow Smith episodes
were reprinted, most notably 1970's ALL-STAR WESTERN # 1, which was virtually a Pow-Wow solo
book (reprinting WESTERN # 80 and 73). Other reprints appeared in ALL-STAR # 8, 9 and 11,
DC SPECIAL # 6, SUPER DC GIANT # S-15, TRIGGER TWINS # 1 and WEIRD WESTERN # 12.

The modern-day Pow-Wow returned in 1980s DETECTIVE COMICS # 500 alongside several other
crimefighters from the title's long history. The episode, by Len Wein and Jim
Aparo, was a rewrite on an old Batman yarn ("The Case Batman Failed To Solve" from BATMAN
# 14) in which multiple detectives joined forces to solve the murder of an associate.

Pow-Wow's 19th Century incarnation missed making an appearance in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS
but he did manage to turn up with many of DC's other 1870s Western heroes in 1991's
ARMAGEDDON: THE ALIEN AGENDA # 3.

Most recently, Chuck Dixon and Eduardo Barreto featured a possibly third-generation
Pow-Wow ("It's United States Marshal Smith now.") in 1997's ROBIN ANNUAL # 6.
In a cute sequence, Smith astonished the modern counterpart of Nighthawk by looking at tire
tracks and determining that the fugitive 20th Century Trigger Twins "came off the interstate
a few miles north. '78 Cadillac Eldorado. Oklahoma plates. Stolen back in Tulsa."

"You can tell that from SIGN ?"

"It's in the Texas Rangers' report."

Pow-Wow and Nighthawk eventually ended up in Gotham, meeting Sheriff "Shotgun" Smith ("No
RELATION, I reckon."), Robin and the Huntress before the Triggers were taken into custody.

MikishawmMember

posted August 20, 2000 03:06 PM

In June of 1959, the Flash had his third consecutive clash with Gorilla Grodd
(FLASH # 108), Superman encountered Bizarro (ACTION # 255) and Mister Mxyzptlk
(SUPERMAN # 131), Batman and Robin journeyed to seventeenth-century Venice
(BATMAN # 125) while Supergirl met Tommy Tomorrow in the future (ACTION #
255), Speedy began moonlighting from his regular role as Green Arrow's
partner (ADVENTURE # 263), the Challengers of the Unknown thwarted "the plot
to destroy Earth" (COTU # 9) and Wonder Woman quashed an alien campaign
against her (WW # 108). Deep in outer space, Adam Strange defeated the robot
raiders of Vor Kan (MYSTERY IN SPACE # 53) and Abin Sur embarked on what was
to be his final mission as a Green Lantern (flashback in GL # 16). And, in
the city of Closter, an occult investigator named Mark Merlin reassured a
client that her house was NOT haunted (HOUSE OF SECRETS # 23).

In the pilot episode, Mark explained to the reader that "there are three types of cases
I receive ... the most common one being 'supernatural' events which have a perfectly
natural explanation." Second most frequent was "man-made ... created, as a
rule, in order to perpetrate a hoax." And then there were the instances that
Mark categorized in his "Question Mark File." As an example of the latter, he
cited the gargantuan amoeba-like creatures that he'd fought and buried in a
cavern in Ridgely Hills.

"A Mark Merlin Mystery" became a fixture in HOUSE OF SECRETS, pencilled by
Mort Meskin and, with issue # 25, inked by George Roussos. For every hoax
that Mark and his assistant Elsa exposed, there seemed to be ten genuine
supernatural occurances that they uncovered. From other-dimensional fishmen
who gave Mark temporary aquatic powers (HoS # 46) to a marauding
extraterrestrial creature (HoS # 51) to condemned spirits (HoS # 62), there
was never a dull moment. Mark defended himself with a variety of potions and
spells, plus a "magic eye" talisman and the ability to levitate himself.

The arrival of writer Jack Miller to the series brought new details to light.
In HoS # 56 (1962), Mark's uncle, the Mighty Merlin, died and the young investigator
inherited his mansion on Mystery Hill. The story was altered in HoS # 58, wherein the
Mighty Merlin's death was established as occuring when Mark was in college.
Elsa was retroactively revealed to have been the Mighty Merlin's assistant.
After his uncle was slain by the Council of Three, Mark decided to look into
the case only to have the villains die of unexplained causes. Elsa speculated
that the Council might have met their end through occult forces and Mark
decided to make the investigation of such mysteries his life's work.

In issue # 60, Mark was caught up in sinister doings tied to the American tour of the
Sarubian tomb of Pharaoh Memkata. The Pharaoh had been said to take the form of a black cat
by using a charm now buried somewhere in the tomb. After the exhibit was
threatened by a curse, Mark entered the transplanted burial chamber in search of the alleged
charm. To his amazement, he found it -- a small cat's head with jeweled eyes.

The light of his flashlight against the jewels sent a sudden surge of energy through
the investigator and Mark shook off the effects only to find himself looking down
on his own body. Incredibly, his mind now inhabited the form of a black cat.
Crawling onto his human body, Mark determined that "it's in a trance --
there's a heartbeat, faint and terribly slow -- but it's alive ... which
means I can reverse this fantastic exchange." With Elsa impersonating
Memkata's wife, Cletoma, the black cat walked towards the instigator of the
would-be terrorist plot -- Sarubia's Ambassador Fazir -- and scratched out a
message in their ancient tongue. When translated, it read "Fazir is the
criminal. He has brought shame upon me -- Memkata."

In the aftermath, Mark kept the cat charm for himself, telling Elsa that "with magic
like this, I could fight the forces of evil better than ever. But does ANY man have the
right to use such great power ?" The answer, of course, was a resounding yes.
With the artifact hanging around his neck, Mark entered the form of Memkata
on several subsequent occasions while Elsa watched over his true body (HoS #
61, 63, 65, 68-70). Periodically, Mark even seemed capable of speaking in his feline
persona (HoS # 65, 70) though this was presumably a type of telepathic projection.

HoS # 61 introduced Mark's chief nemesis, Doctor-7, a self-styled "King of the
Supernatural" who imagined the occult investigator to be his only competition. Initially,
much of the villain's reputation was founded on trickery (# 65) but he did possess
genuine occult knowledge and drew a being known as the Morloo to Earth. From
changing granite to gold to altering the make-up of human beings, the Morloo
was an almost unstoppable threat that Mark and Elsa narrowly succeeded in
expelling from Earth on three occasions (# 67, 68, 72).

The complexion of the series began to change with 1965's HoS # 72, when original
Spectre artist Bernard Baily replaced the Meskin-Roussos art team.

In HoS # 73, The Gargoyle (alias Nicholas Balko), an old foe of Mark's (though never seen
previously) kidnapped Elsa and seemed to dematerialize him. In fact, Mark had been
transported to the subatomic world of Ra, home to a race whose descendants came there 4,000
years earlier from Egypt. The planet orbited a hexagon-like green sun.

Informed by a scientist named Kranak and his daughter Rinah that the properties of the
other-dimensional world would render him immortal -- but incapable of leaving
--Mark sought a way out by using his cat charm to inhabit an obsidian statue
of a cat-god. A token representing Ra's sun fell next to Mark's insensate
body and exploded, imbuing him with great knowledge and mental abilities.
Thanks to his new powers, Mark could finally return to Earth -- but not
without losing body and soul. Instead, Kranak transformed the young man into
Prince Ra-Man, modelled after a legendary ruler of the ancient Egypt. His
costume included a light green shirt, dark green pants and an orange cape.

Elsa was astonished when she was rescued by the stranger with the black hair (streaked
with white) and goatee. Her elation turned to grief when Prince Ra-Man informed her that
Mark was gone. For reasons of his own, Ra-Man offered no further details and Elsa
could only conclude that her fiance (since HoS # 68) was dead.

Although she was unaware that Ra-Man was something of a reincarnation of Mark, Elsa
initially trusted the so-called Mind-Master, and accepted his claim to be the occult
investigator's heir to the Mystery Hill retreat. Together they completed
Mark's last case, the investigation of a supernatural fraud named Zandor
Caldoz (HoS # 74), and faced foes such as the Heap (# 75), Helio, the Sun-Demon (# 76),
the Vulkanti (# 77) and Lord Leopard (# 78). After learning of Bruce Gordon's connection
to Eclipso, Ra-Man even fought the lunar villain twice (# 76, 79).

A wealthy dabbler in the occult named Whitney Hargrave harbored resentment of Ra-Man's
clearly superior abilities for a time (HoS # 78) but eventually conceded that the
Prince was the better man and became his friend (# 79). Meanwhile, Ra-Man had
also discovered that he could magically travel back and forth between Earth
and Ra (# 75) and made two subsequent trips there in 1966 (# 77, 80),
renewing the world's dying green sun on his last journey.

The Mind-Master was primarily a powerful telekinetic though he had a certain sensitivity
to the thoughts of others. He was also capable of briefly altering matter and was
transported by enlarging the sun symbol from Ra into a flying disc. Significantly,
Ra-Man still possessed Mark's cat charm and used it one fateful day to enter
Memkata's body and defeat Doctor-7. Returning to Mystery Hill, Memkata could
not locate Ra-Man's body, unwittingly hidden in one of the Mighty Merlin's
trick cabinets, and he gradually began to lose his memory of his human incarnation.

Ra-Man's disappearance brought all of Elsa Magusson's old suspicions back to
life and she eventually wrote a book about her experience, postulating that Mark
may have been hidden by the Witness Protection Program since his "last case had brought
him in contact with international crime-figures."

While foraging for food, Memkata happened to spot one of Elsa's interviews being
broadcast on a TV in an appliance story window and his foggy memories were partially
rekindled. The cat successfully located the woman, who used Mark's magic eye artifact to
help Ra-Man communicate with her. Returning to Mystery Hill, Elsa tapped into
her knowledge of the Mighty Merlin's tricks to find Ra-Man's body. The grateful
prince realized that she deserved to know the truth and finally revealed the
complete story of Mark's fate. Elsa's faint hope for her fiance's return had
been extinguished (1981's DC COMICS PRESENTS # 32, by Mike Tiefenbacher, Alex
Saviuk and Vince Colletta).

The "Whatever Happened To ... ?" episode added a few new details to the series,
including Elsa's last name (Magusson) and the identity of their hometown (Cloister).
The story actually represented Tiefenbacher's second draft of a Merlin/Ra-Man revival.
In the original plot, rejected because it was much too long to fit into the 8
page format, the story had reached a happy ending, with Mark miraculously
revived and reunited with Elsa. Instead, Tiefenbacher could only hope for a
sequel in which Mark finally returned.

It wasn't to be. Instead, the profile of DC's answer to Doctor Strange had only been
raised high enough to qualify him for victim status in issue # 12 of 1985's CRISIS ON INFINITE
EARTHS. Mirroring Mark's 1962 battle with an other-dimensional shadow
creature (HoS # 57), Prince Ra-Man joined the war against the Anti-Monitor's
Shadow-Demons. Above New Orleans, the Egyptian prince was torn in two by the
monsters. In Cloister, Elsa found herself in mourning once more.

Today Mark Merlin's name lives on through the Merlin's Lair nightclub in Midway City
(DAY OF JUDGMENT # 1) but he and Ra-Man have otherwise gone unseen in the current DC Universe
save for cameos in Elseworlds -- CONJURERS # 3 for Mark, DC CHALLENGE # 9
& 12 for Prince Ra-Man. 1999's DCU VILLAINS SECRET FILES # 1 briefly
referred to "Dr. 7, whose talent lies with communicating with ghosts, is
rumored to have been corrupted by the great beyond."

During the fifteen years between Ra-Man's appearances in HOUSE OF SECRETS and
DC COMICS PRESENTS, Mark Merlin appeared in reprints in 1968's HOUSE OF
MYSTERY # 174 and 1971-1972's PHANTOM STRANGER # 15, 16, 18 and 19. Although
the latter reprinted the pilot (in PS # 15) and the first Memkata story (PS #
19), one can't help but ponder the missed opportunity of not running a story
with Doctor-7, who was a twin to the Phantom Stranger's own foe Tannarak.
And, boy, wouldn't it have been cool to see a BRAVE & BOLD with Batman
and Prince Ra-Man (or Mark Merlin) taking on Catwoman ?

HellstoneMember

posted August 20, 2000 03:54 PM

An extremely minor shade of an appearance of Prince Ra-Man was in the recent
JSA #15. His tombstone was seen on the Fallen Heroes Graveyard on page 21.

/ola

BgztlMember

posted August 21, 2000 01:06 PM

Thanks, Mikishawm and Hellstone.

At least I know a litle more about this character now.

I think I must have confused HOUSE OF SECRETS' Mark Merlin with Fred Guardineer's
Merlin from the original NATIONAL COMICS (Quality Comics Group).

Thanks for the summaries on these characters in general. Pow-Wow Smith is character
I have seen stories of but this kind of mini-history really makes the characters come
alive. Of course, it also makes me want to mortgage my house to buy back
issues so it's not a completely good thing.
But I will exercise restraint.

Thanks for posting.

I, for one, am still reading.

BgztlMember

posted August 25, 2000 02:46 PM

But I might be the only one. . .

If anyone is out there still I have a few more questions.

How about Kong the Untamed? (1970's character. I remember seeing the comic once but
what was it? Was it any good?)

And I just read that there was a heroine in the Golden Age called Huntress who appeared
in SENSATION COMICS. Is she the same as the villainess that later married the Sportsmaster?
Who was she and how was she different from the modern DC Huntresses?

Thanks for any info.

MikishawmMember

posted August 25, 2000 05:14 PM

I've put Kong and the Huntress on my agenda for the weekend. The SENSATION Huntress,
by the way, was a Wildcat foe and, yes, the future wife of the Sportsmaster.

MikishawmMember

posted August 26, 2000 09:02 PM

Hungry and cold, the young blonde boy passed through the snow and crept into the
cave where the clan of Cro-Magnons slept. It would mean his death if any of
the tribe was awakened, particularly the sadistic chieftain Trog. Luck was
with the boy and he escaped with a flaming torch and a mammoth bone to act as
fuel. Kong and his mother would not freeze this night.

Attu, the child's mother, was thunderstruck. "You went to the sacred fire! If Trog had
CAUGHT you -- he is as the beasts! He has no heart! You know that! You knew, and STILL you
went. The spirit of Kong DOES live within you. One day, you WILL be a mighty
warrior. May the gods grant that you may LIVE to see that day."

One of several non-super-hero titles launched in 1975, KONG THE UNTAMED came from the
editorial office of Joe Orlando. The text page in issue # 1 related the
short-lived run of ANTHRO from the late 1960s and observed that "the fall
1974 TV schedule proved that cavemen and prehistoric monsters are back in
fashion, so we decided it was time to try another magazine devoted to that
theme. And, rather than just redo Anthro, we decided to try an all new
series," with Jack Oleck writing scripts and Alfredo Alcala provided
exquisite artwork. Berni Wrightson drew issue # 1's cover.

The star of the comic book was to be "an adult caveman, the chief of a tribe of the
emerging Cro-Magnons. To make him an interesting person, we began to think about his
family, his childhood, and the social system that he lived under. But as we
grew more and more involved in the structure of his youth, we decided that
the tale of growing up in prehistoric days deserved more than a cursory telling."

The youth had been born in the shadow of a battle between his mother's tribe and a rival
clan of Beast Men (the neanderthals). An hour behind the conflict, Attu went into
labor, praying to the moon goddess Lural that she might bear "a man child that I may be
honored by my people." Her prayer was answered and Attu gave birth to a boy.

Resuming her trek, she caught up with her tribe only to be informed by their leader,
Trog, that the infant be taken away. Magl, the shaman, had noted the child's hair, blonde
in contrast to the common black and brown, and recalled a legendary "strange tribe of great
fighting men" who were "led by a yellow hair. A mighty warrior called Kong. And Attu's child
was born while the goddess Lural showed her full face. The spirit of Kong may live anew
within him. All life comes from Lural. If she has given him Kong's spirit, he
will be a mighty warrior. A hunter, and unbeatable in battle."

The sorcerer had said too much. Trog had no desire to harbor a youth that might one day
defeat him. When Attu protested his attempt to crush the baby's skull, Trog exiled mother
and son from the tribe. "I'd kill you where you lie were it not that female blood would steal
the strenth from my axe." A curse from the shaman effectively made them pariahs.

Attu christened her son Kong in recognition of the prophetic story. They spent the next
several years in seclusion, ostracized by any of their people that they approached. While
foraging for food one day, Kong was captured by Gurat, a member of his clan's tribal enemies,
the Beast Men. Gurat bound the youngster and slashed at his body with his knife, anticipating
that the scent of his blood would draw animals and inflict an ugly death on Kong.

Kong outwitted his captor, escaping while Gurat slept, luring him into a boar pit and
thrusting a spear into his chest. Attu imagined that the death of a Beast Man would put
them back in the good graces of the clan but Trog simply sneered and denounced
them as liars. Kong returned to the pit to find evidence but was captured
himself by an entire tribe of Beast Men.

Against Trog's will, Attu raided the camp and freed her son -- suffering grievous spear
wounds in the process. Kong left Attu in a cave while he went in search of medicinal herbs
but returned to find the horrific sight of his mother's tortured corpse. Trog
had vowed to kill Attu if she pursued her son and he made good on the threat.
A grief-stricken Kong denounced Lural for giving him golden hair and making
him an outcast. Trog, he promised, would pay with his life (KONG # 1).

While throwing stones at wolves, Kong witnessed sparks when two of the stones collided.
After experimenting with an assortment of rocks, the boy found two that would start
a fire. The flames did more than warm him, though. They also attracted the
Bear People, who placed Kong in a cavern to serve as a sacrifice.

The boy was astonished to find himself rescued by Gurat, who had survived the earlier
spear attack. His motive: "A whelp who dared defy ME deserves better than to die like some
insect caught in a spider's web." The duo fought off an attack by a bear and
fled, Gurat now as much an outcast as Kong.

Ultimately, the Beast Men captured Gurat, whom they proclaimed "an evil spirit" and
sentenced to death. Kong, because of his "magic" ability to create fire, was free to go.
The boy refused to leave, threatening to "call down fire from the sky to destroy you
all" as he held two stones aloft. "I am an evil spirit. It makes no difference
to me whether you live or become ashes." The bluff succeeded and Gurat was
permitted to depart with Kong. "When we fought the bear," the Beast Man
noted, "our blood mingled. That makes us brothers" (# 2).

When Trog's tribe was forced to flee its meal thanks to an attacking sabretooth, Gurat
and Kong decided to help themselves to the food -- only to captured when the clan
returned. They were sentenced to death and hung over a volcanic pit but the
sight of a full moon gave the shaman pause. He cautioned Trog against
incurring the wrath of Lural by slaying Kong. The chief offered an alternative. The boy
would be welcomed back into the clan if he killed Gurat with a spear. Kong took the weapon,
rushed towards the Beast Man ... and cut his bonds.

The rescue coincided with the eruption of the volcano, surely creating a new legend
about the wrath of Lural. Gurat and Kong didn't wait around, though. They entered the same
series of caverns where the sabretooth had been seen earlier. When they
emerged, the blood brothers found themselves in a lush, green valley. The
threat of Kong and Gurat's human enemies paled beside the giant lizards --
some of whom could fly -- that they found here (# 3). It's entirely possible
that the cavemen had stumbled through a portal into the other-dimensional
land that would be known in the 20th Century by names such as Mikishawm and Skartaris.

Gerry Conway had scripted KONG # 3 over Jack Oleck's plot and assumed full writing chores
with # 4. Tony Caravana and Jo Ingente provided art for # 4 while David Wenzel and Bill
Draut drew # 5. The final two-parter concerned a female-dominated tribe in
the lost land who were commanded by Jelenna, the tyrannical priestess of the
goddess Dra. Kong met the clan when Rolen, one of the males, thrust a spear
into Gurat, who plunged in a river and was left for dead.

Gurat had been discovered by another tribe, one that was even more advanced than the Dra
clan. These warriors had built elaborate tree-houses, created bows and arrows and even
domesticated pterodactyls (whom they called the Lanktor), equipping them with
saddles and riding them like horses. The commander of the Lanktor was a man named Errus.

Meanwhile, Kong came to terms with Gurat's death and prodded Rolen to rebel
against the leadership of Jelenna. Rolen denounced Dra as a false goddess and
demanded that the men of the tribe rise up in rebellion. The agitator was bashed on the head
by his bethrothed and, to Kong's orror, burned to death as a sacrifice to Dra. Kong was
spared a similar fate thanks to the arrival of Gurat, Errus and others, all astride the
flying lizards. A rain of flaming spears and arrows left the Valley of Blood in ruins.

Kong's story ended with the fifth issue, his life commemorated only in a write-up in
WHO'S WHO '86 # 12 and a mention in HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE # 1.

HellstoneMember

posted August 27, 2000 09:40 AM

I always felt Kong would be a suitable ancestor of Aquaman. Parts of their origins are
the same - yellow-haired child that must be banned from society or else it will bring
disaster. And the valley with dinosaurs could very well be a part of Skartaris - a world
with close ties to Atlantis...

/ola

HellstoneMember

posted August 27, 2000 09:59 AM

Okay, with Kong as #133 and the Huntress being #134, the list is continued
with some more villains...

Thanks for mentioning the possible ties between Kong and Aquaman & Atlantis,
which had occurred to me, too. Of course, KONG took place so many millennia
ago that the whole JLA could be descended from him.

In mid-1947, Wildcat was tracked down and imprisoned in a private zoo by a woman in
a yellow tiger-skin costume named The Huntress. The brunette had decided to turn the
tables on those who would throw criminals in jail. Her targets included not
only costumed crimefighters but law enforcement heads and high-ranking
bureaucrats. Unlike her other captives, though, Wildcat broke loose, becoming
"the only man who has ever escaped the traps of the Huntress" and gaining her
lasting enmity (SENSATION COMICS # 68, art by Mort Meskin).

The Huntress displayed proficiency in a wide range of weapons, ranging from the bow
and arrow to shotguns to knives. Her knowledge of plant and animal life was also uncanny.
She was capable of training creatures as varied as elephants and falcons to
obey her and once used a serpentine jungle vine in an attempt to strangle Wildcat.

For her next outing, the Huntress hoping to reap a fortune by betting against heavyweight
champion Ted Grant and replacing him with a double to guarantee that he lost. The
villainess was unaware that, by kidnapping Grant's manager "Stretch" Skinner,
she'd draw the attention of Wildcat. The Huntress was pleased to tangle with
the hero again, noting that "You've caught me twice -- only to lose me twice!
What will the outcome be this time, Wildcat ?" It was, once more, a draw.
Wildcat and Stretch escaped the villainess' ship and swam for shore, leaving
the Huntress behind as they raced for the sports arena. Her face hidden
behind a veil, she watched as Grant won the bout and then slipped into the
crowds (SENSATION # 71, by Bob Kanigher and Gil Kane).

The Huntress' clashes with Wildcat continued into 1948 with consecutive encounters
early in the year (SENSATION # 75 and 76). Her reputation had grown sufficiently to be
invited into the Injustice Society. In a competition to determine who would
lead the group, the Huntress stole nothing less than Plymouth Rock, nearly
defeating the Atom and the Flash in the process (ALL-STAR COMICS # 41).
Despite the disappointing turn of events, the Huntress' time with the rogues
would have lasting consequences. A mutual attraction had sprung up between
the evil sportswoman and fellow member Lawrence "Crusher" Crock -- the Sportsmaster.

In August of 1948, the Huntress and her gang made another attack on Ted Grant, this
time intending to kidnap both him and his latest contender, Mike Bailey, and hold them for
ransom. Wildcat narrowly escaped decapitation to bring the villainess to
justice once more (DC 100-PAGE SUPER-SPECTACULAR # 6, art by Chet Kozlak).
She and the Sportsmaster joined the Injustice Society again in February of
1949, capturing most of the Justice Society. Several former members of the
All-Star Squadron and the JSA -- including Wildcat -- were recruited to help
defeat the villains (STARMAN # 62).

By 1966, the Sportsmaster and Huntress had married, gaining the joint nickname of
Mr. and Mrs. Menace. "It's a perfect partnership," Crock declared. "I plan the spectacular
capers -- "

" -- and I catch the costumed heroes who try to interfere," his bride concluded.

The Huntress planned to reestablish her underworld prison and stock it with costumed
"trophies." She lured Wildcat out of retirement and made him the first prisoner. During a
series of raids on Federal City, she vowed to make the local heroes, Black Canary and
Starman, the next members of her "super-hero menagerie." Instead, the two heroes managed
to coordinate their efforts so that Mr. and Mrs. Menace were caught in their own trap
(THE BRAVE & THE BOLD # 62, by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson).

The evil couple renewed their ties with the Injustice Society in 1975 (JLA # 123-124)
and formed a partnership with the Thorn in 1978 (ALL-STAR COMICS # 72-73, by Paul Levitz,
Joe Staton and Bob Layton & Joe Giella). In the latter, the Huntress stalked her heroic
young namesake through the rooms of the Justice Society headquarters, vowing to kill the
woman who "stole my name." Helena Wayne, the new Huntress, finally got the better
of her predecessor, goading the villainess into standing "beneath her own trap."

"Just for the record," Green Lantern concluded. "I think this establishes who has the
right to the name."

On Earth-One, two months before the publication of SHOWCASE # 62, Aquaman and Mera were
called in by the U.S. government to investigate O.G.R.E.'s interest in an island resort in
the Caribbean. Stalking the aquatic duo was another romantic couple, a
rough-hewn muscleman known as Typhoon and an attractive brunette dubbed the
Huntress, who wore a yellow leopard-spotted bikini and wielded a spear gun.

Capturing the Huntress, Aquaman and Mera learned that she and her lover were pawns of
O.G.R.E., forced to their bidding because of the threat of an explosive "liquidation cell"
implanted in their bodies. Believing he finally had the upper hand on O.G.R.E.'s Supreme One
(clad in a black hood and robe), Aquaman invaded his crab-like saucer and dismantled the
liquidation switch -- but was taken captive.

Aquaman learned that O.G.R.E. had been contracted by a foreign government to retrieve
a forgotten cache of nuclear missiles beneath the island, an arsenal that they'd use to
blackmail the United States. The Supreme One had reckoned without Mera, who
drafted the Huntress, Typhoon and divers from the U.S. Navy to take on the
Supreme One and his partners. The case was closed when the Huntress led Aquaman to the
Supreme One's headquarters within the island's resort. The removal of the black hood
revealed the hotel manager, who'd been kidnapping guests and forcing them to act on his
behalf under penalty of death (1966's AQUAMAN # 26, by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy).

Rumors abound that the reformation of O.G.R.E.'s initial pair of agents didn't take
and that Typhoon later assumed a new alias. In any event, a Sportsmaster and Huntress
surfaced on Earth-One in 1976, looking identical to their Golden Age counterparts. The
Sportsmaster had discovered a treasure at the base of a Mexican pyramid but
neither he nor his wife possessed the athletic proficiency necessary to evade
the traps that lined the trail. They abducted Batgirl and Robin and forced
them into a competition, culminating with a race to claim the treasure. The
Dynamite Duo turned the tables on their captors and captured the bickering
husband and wife (BATMAN FAMILY # 7, by Elliot S. Maggin, Curt Swan and Vince Colletta).

Mr. and Mrs. Menace had escaped to their suburban home within three months but the Huntress
was fed up. Declaring that "super-villains never win," she announced her intention to
become a heroine. The Sportsmaster was aghast and suggested a "'friendly' baseball game"
of heroes and villains. "If your team wins, you switch to being a crimefighter ... if mine
comes out ahead -- and I'm sure it will -- you stick with me."

Using unexplained technology, several heroes were teleported to New York's Crandall
Stadium, forced to participate rather than risk the lives of the literally captive
audience of some sixty-six thousand people. Despite a plethora of dirty
tricks from Sportsmaster and his team, good triumphed over evil. As the teams
were teleported away, a gloating Huntress sneered, "Well, big shot! I TOLD
you the heroes would win" (DC SUPER-STARS # 10, by Bob Rozakis, Dick Dillin
and Frank McLaughlin). Her subsequent career as a heroine, if it ever
materialized, remains undocumented.

The Earth-Two Huntress participated in the Great Crisis of 1985 (CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS
# 9-10) and her history was elaborated on in the unified timeline that materialized
in its wake -- beginning in May of 1942. As the Tigress, she first surfaced
on the last page of 1987's YOUNG ALL-STARS # 6, wearing a familiar tiger-skin
outfit, albeit with longer hair and a domino mask. She displayed her skill
with the crossbow in YAS # 7 but didn't meet the All-Star Squadron
face-to-face until # 9 (by Roy & Dann Thomas, Brian Murray and Malcolm Jones III).

She identified herself as an eighteen-year-old college student named Paula Brooks who
had idolized big game hunter Paul Kirk since childhood and immediately recognized him as the
costumed hero Manhunter. "I spent hours and hours practicing with the bow and
arrow, so I could be like you -- only a specialist. I studied jujitsu, too --
with my folks' Japanese gardener." She created a unique "crossbow-gun" and
took the alias of the Tigress in the hope that Manhunter would "sponsor me
for membership in the All-Star Squadron."

After distinguishing herself during the All-Star Squadron's battle with Baron Blitzkrieg
on May 9, 1942, the Tigress was voted a provisional member of the team on May 11 (YAS #
9), serving actively with its sub-group, the Young All-Stars, over the next
month (YAS # 11-19, 21-23; ANNUAL # 1). On June 11, during a clash with a
Nazi agent known as the Horned Owl, the Tigress was thrust through a
billboard and mortally wounded by debris that pierced her chest (# 23).

Later that evening, as Squadron member "Iron" Munro raised his hands to kill the Owl's
leader, Ubermensch, the valkyrie Gudra begged Munro to spare the villain. In
exchange, she restored the Tigress to life, warning that "the journey
beyond Earth's ramparts can leave no one untouched" (# 25). The
following day, the Tigress rose from her hospital bed in a state of dementia
and severed her ties with the All-Stars. She was last seen in the company of Gudra (# 26).

By 1945, the Tigress still retained a tenuous hold on her heroic past thanks to the
intervention of Paul Kirk, who took the young woman as his partner. Neither Manhunter or
the Tigress was averse to using a machine gun and Paula also proved adept
with a flamethrower, using one to destroy a demonically altered Nazi who threatened
Wildcat and Hawkman (1999's THRILLING COMICS # 1, by Chuck Dixon and Russ
Heath). During their subsequent battle against the forces of Stalker, one
might even infer that Paul and Paula were romantically involved, given the
Tigress' reference to Manhunter as "lover" (ALL-STAR COMICS (second series) # 2).

As the decade wore on, the Huntress, a criminal believed to be Paula Brooks, became a
foe of Wildcat. Indeed, most of her previous history remains intact, with stories
such as ALL-STAR COMICS # 41 and BRAVE & BOLD # 62 being specifically
reaffirmed (in SECRET ORIGINS # 25 and STARMAN ANNUAL # 2, respectively). It
could even be argued that AQUAMAN # 26 and BATMAN FAMILY # 7 are part of the
current chronology, involving either the original Huntress and Sportsmaster
or their daughter and an unnamed lover.

The daughter in question was named Artemis, after the goddess of the hunt. The
arrow-wielding Artemis joined Injustice, Unlimited in late 1986 (INFINITY, INC. # 34,
by Roy & Dann Thomas, Todd McFarlane and Tony DeZuniga) and freed her parents from the
Empire State Detention Center soon after (# 35). Unfortunately, the Crock
family made the mistake of attacking Green Lantern's daughter, Jade, and a
smitten Solomon Grundy slammed the entire trio with one blow (# 36).

Outside of regular DCU continuity, James Robinson and Paul Smith featured the Tigress
in 1993's THE GOLDEN AGE. In August of 1948, Paula Brooks was granted amnesty for her
crimes in return for her allegiance to Tex Thompson's newly created anti-communism
force (THE GOLDEN AGE # 2). After learning that Thompson was actually the
ruthless Ultra-Humanite (# 3), Brooks joined other heroes on January 8, 1950
in opposing him and his allies. Traumatized by the deaths of her lover, Lance
Gallant, and friends such as Miss America and the Sportsmaster in the ensuing
conflict, Paula returned to crime and, by 1955, was reported to have
"made the F.B.I.'s most wanted list" (# 4).

Chronologically, the Huntress has made no further recent appearances though Artemis
continues to make her presence known in titles such as INFINITY, INC. # 51-53 and, as the
new Tigress, in YOUNG JUSTICE # 23-24 and JSA # 9-10).

HellstoneMember

posted August 28, 2000 07:47 AM

Wasn't it speculated that Paula/Tigress/Huntress was the daughter of an even
earlier Tigress? The Zatara foe from ACTION #1? Has that been confirmed in any way?

/ola

BgztlMember

posted August 28, 2000 02:13 PM

Thanks for the replies on Kong and Huntress.

Somehow I got the mistaken impression that the Huntress my friend was
talking about in SENSATION was a heroine.

Turns out it was just old sourpuss, huh?

(Not that I'd say that to her face, mind you.
)

Thanks.

I know who the Duke of Deception is but I doubt I can do the subject justice,
Hellstone. He was a former Wonder Woman foe and one of th henchmen of Mars (as Ares was
called in those days).

As you might expect, his specialty was cunning and deceit, the natural causes of war.
He was a sort of provocateur for Mars in early stories, tricking people and nations to fight
amongst themselves.

He also fought Wonder Woman solo a few times, I believe.

I'm sure someone has a complete dossier on the devious rascal coming right up!

MikishawmMember

posted August 28, 2000 05:12 PM

It's not impossible but I tend to doubt that Zatara's foe and Paula Brooks are mother
and daughter. Based on the brief recitation of Paula's background, I got the
impression that her parents were a fairly affluent but otherwise ordinary
couple. The appendix in WHO'S WHO '87 # 5 explicitly stated that "neither Artemis nor
the first Huntress are related to the original Tigress, a foe of Zatara."

Zatara fought the first Tigress in ACTION # 1 (check your MILLENNIUM EDITION),
3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 22, 23, 25, 30, 35 and 42, the last of which came out in the fall of 1941.
She was also seen in a panel of Zatara's history in SECRET ORIGINS # 27.

MikishawmMember

posted September 02, 2000 03:24 PM

Marty Baxter's world came crashing down when he learned that he had arthritis. The
young baseball star now found it "impossible ... to swing a bat" and was
absorbed in his problems as he sat in the stands watching the 1967 World
Series that he'd otherwise have been playing in. Struck in the back by a
black sphere, Baxter leaped to his feet with a stunning discovery: "My
arthritis pain -- gone! I feel like a new man -- bursting with power!"

His euphoria lasted only a moment before resentment set in. The metal railing in front
of Marty crumpled between his fingers as he lunged from the stands. "I'll make the
sports world pay for what they did to me! I'm going to smash DOWN the
stadium!" To the astonished baseball players, he screamed, "DOWN WITH ALL SPORTS!"

The transformation of Marty Baxter was not unique and the Justice Society of America
was soon summoned to investigate the case of the Smashing Sportsman and three other
menaces around the globe. Wildcat and Robin, the newest member of the JSA,
were convinced that the Sportsman's next target would be Mexico's Cortez
Stadium, site of the upcoming Pan-American games and directly in the path of
Baxter's string of demolished arenas.

Sure enough, the Smashing Sportsman was there, now clad in a green body suit with a
triangular black design on his chest, stomach and back and matching ebony boots that arched
up to his thighs. The two heroes soon found themselves outclassed. The Sportsman
had lung power strong enough to blow all the water out of a swimming pool and
made the ground quake with the wave of his arm. He spun Wildcat and Robin in
circles -- one in each hand -- and sent them flying. Though the heroes'
punches had no effect on Baxter, his blows eventually battered them into
unconsciousness.

"Maybe I ought to take your places in the Justice Society. A trade like they make in
the major leagues. Me -- for you two has-beens. Or maybe I'll start my own gang.
Whatever that black sphere was -- it just about made me invincible!"

The other members of the JSA met with similar results and, as they licked their wounds,
Johnny Thunder sent his Thunderbolt to battle the rogues. When the pink lightning bolt
returned declaring that "I've met my match," Johnny asked T-bolt to summon
the Justice League for a fresh perspective. The JLA, however, had just fallen
victim to another quartet of black sphere-enhanced villains.

Finally, the Thunderbolt used his magic to learn the marauders' secret: "The black spheres
came from a universe in which they evolved -- in positive time -- to a peak, at which
point they became the ultimate in super-intelligent life. They then started
to devolve rapidly -- in negative time -- losing their intelligence. To
escape their doom, they sought out another universe still on positive time --
ours -- in order to maintain and even increase their super-powers. Because
time was short, they had to hurl themselves at random into our universe,
hoping at least some of them would make contact with the highest of all
life-forms -- human beings -- and be absorbed into their bodies. But only
four of them made the vital contact. The remainder evidently perished."

While the spheres incubated, their hosts were induced into acting on their darkest
desires and becoming criminals. "Eventually, when the four alien super-beings 'awaken,'
THEY will be in full control of their human hosts" (JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
# 55, by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Sid Greene).

Robin offered a solution. He reasoned that there must be dozens, perhaps hundreds, of
black spheres that died on contact with Earth but which still might possess a degree of
radioactivity. Superman, Green Lantern, Flash and Wonder Woman put their
powers to the test and gathered enough residual radiation to enhance four of their number
with the negative energy -- Hourman, Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.

Superman escorted Hourman and Robin to the location of the Smashing Sportsman's latest
rampage, the ancient Colisseum of Rome. The Man of Steel quickly found that he had his
hands full with Hourman, who had succumbed to the negative radiation's evil
effects. The Man of the Hour's evil energy and strength was quelled only
after Superman and Robin unwittingly submerged him in the Tiber River.

Each of the sub-teams found similar methods of defeating the black sphere-possessed
villains but it was Johnny Thunder who actually acted on one of the discoveries. The
alien-possessed humans were sensitive to, of all things, bad jokes and were
convulsed with laughter when Johnny turned up at the quartet's joint hideout
and delivered one groaner after another. While they roared, the Thunderbolt
"blasted the black spheres out of them -- and without host bodies to sustain
their life -- the aliens will quickly die."

While the JSA requested that no legal action be taken against the four ex-villains,
the Justice League made plans to use the knowledge they'd just acquired to defeat their
own four black sphere-generated menaces (JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 56).

Famed passenger train of the Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe Railroad. The name is
spoofed in a shot in "Hare Trigger" (Freleng, 1945), with a logo on a train engine
showing an Indian in a Superman uniform, and again in "The Big
Snooze" (Clampett, 1946), with Bugs and a raft of little Bugses making
like a train over a recumbent Elmer Fudd. Injun Joe from "Wagon
Heels" (Clampett, 1945) is referred to as The Super Chief ("whoo-whooo!")

*****

Thanks to E. O. Costello, who wrote the Companion!
"Hare Trigger" was the Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam cartoon I was thinking of in my
first post on this topic. Costello's entry for Super Chief came from
http://www.spumco.com/magazine/eowbcc/eowbcc-s.html

MikishawmMember

posted September 03, 2000 09:48 AM

Thanks for the Super Chief info, Superstone. I appreciate it!

Thanks, Derrick, for the additions. They've been added to the list.

I hear the temperature's supposed to get into the triple digits in some
parts of the U.S. today. With that in mind ...

July 23, 1981 was a real scorcher, according to the locals in Fairfax, Maine. How hot was
it ? It was SO hot that the Devil's own son took up residence in the center of town.

It began when Fairfax geneticist Thaddeus Oxford called police detective Greg King to his
lab to report a bizarre incident. Moments after creating "a fire-resistant gene,"
Oxford's formula was blasted by a flaming red hand and metamorphosized into a
gold fleshed woman with long orange hair and a red bathing suit. "I can shape
these chemicals, and give them life which you, human, would have taken YEARS
more research to achieve. Gaze at our creation, human ... stare in awe at Firegirl
-- the first of my invulnerable warriors." Vowing to return and establish a
new empire, the demonic claws vanished with the flaming woman.

Eventually, Firegirl materialized in the center of Fairfax as a harbinger for her
master. While she used her fiery power to mold a throne for the demon, the inhuman torch
was opposed by the city's resident heroes, Vicki Grant and Chris King, who
used their "H" dials to face the villainess as Puma the She-Cat and Enlarger
Man. Chris sealed Firegirl in an asphalt garbage can but she exploded from
the prison, rendering the two heroes unconscious.

Climbing from a smoldering chasm in the street, a towering crimson demon with a
serpentine tail and green belly addressed the horrified witnesses. "This world now
belongs to -- Grockk, the Devil's son." On penalty of death, Grockk demanded
that the people of Earth submit to his rule.

Taking flight, Firegirl directed the monster to "a throne fit for a king."

"Not a king, Firegirl -- an emperor over all he surveys. An emperor who shall create
his very own castle ... from the molten magma boiling deep within the Earth itself."

Miraculously, Chris' next heroic persona was that of Brimstone, who, like Grockk, could
command the flow of lava. When the demon sent a molten wave towards him, Brimstone
directed it back towards Grockk. The duo managed to hold one another in check
but Chris' power was not infinite.

As Chris' resources finally became depleted, Vicki (in the guise of Sulphur) arrived
in the company of Firegirl. The two had declared a truce after Vicki's sulphuric gas
ignited with the flaming woman's fireballs and Firegirl finally acknowledged
that Sulphur's condemnation of Grockk was accurate. "Your words seem true --
my master is interested in power. But ... I do not think there is a way for
me to resist his power ..."

Lunging at the demon, Firegirl shouted, "You did not CREATE me, Grockk. Indeed, I'm not
even a living being! Therefore, if I must die to stop your rampage of evil, I will
gladly forfeit my existence." His eyes and flesh stung by Sulphur's gas,
Grockk dropped the captive Brimstone and was sent plunging into the Hell-pit
by Sulphur and Firegirl's jointly-created explosion. Flying after the demon,
Firegirl assured the heroes that "I will make CERTAIN he does not return.
Thank you, humans. I, who am an artificial creation, have now -- because of
YOU -- a reason to LIVE!"

Was Grockk truly the son of Satan or was he merely bluffing ? His uncanny facial
resemblance to Etrigan the Demon -- from his ears to forehead horns to blank eyes --suggest
that he, like Etrigan, may be an offspring of Belial. To date, however, no connection has
been established.

I'm so happy that more people than I have started to participate in these questions.

Although I'm sure Mikishawm will give you a much better piece of info, I can
give you the briefs of the following.

141. The Image
A goofy hero-wannabee and deluded agent of Order from BOOK OF FATE. Only appeared for
two issues, I believe.

142. ZeroMan
Not a clue.

143. Odd Man
Steve Ditko character from the 1970s. His name is Clay Stoner and he first appeared
in CANCELLED COMICS CAVALCADE #2 (Aut 78) (and later appeared for the public audience
in DETECTIVE COMICS #487 (Dec 79-Jan 80. He last appeared in SUPERBOY.

144. The Sizematic Twins
Henchmen of Two-Face from TEEN TITANS (1st series) #47 (Apr 77). One of them could
shrink, the other could grow. They worked with two other criminal twin
couples called the Flamesplasher Twins and The Darklight Twins. One Sizematic
later became a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains.

145. Captain Stingaree
Batman foe with the looks and M.O. of a pirate. Karl Courtney, one of four
Courtney quadruples. (The other three were detectives and for some reason
Karl believed them to be the Batman). Stingaree later became a member of the
Secret Society of Super-Villains. He was seemingly murdered by Mr. Freeze.

146. Nightmaster
Jim Rook. Sword and Sorcery character who first appeared in SHOWCASE #82 (May
69). A musician who travelled to the interdimensional world of Myrra and
fought supernatural menaces. He last appered as a bookstore owner in PRIMAL
FORCE and SWAMP THING a few years ago.

147. Tim Trench
Private detective that worked with the pre-Crisis Wonder Woman and first
appeared in WONDER WOMAN (1st series) #180 (Jan 69).

Described in detail by creator Len Wein in AMAZING HEROES # 39 (Jan. 15, 1984), ZERO-MAN
would have involved an alternate 25th century in which a totalitarian group called the
Final Order controlled America, erasing all records of the underground force
that opposed them and dubbing them Zero-Men. Recognizing the importance of a
pivotal assassination in 1984, the Zero-Men believed that the prevention of the murder
would change history for the better and decided to send a volunteer back in time.

The candidate was Jonathan Dare, son of the time machine's creator. Strapped into a
uniform that included special goggles and wrist bands, Dare plunged into the past as
the Final Order assassinated his father and girl friend. On his heels was an
agent named Finitus, who was unable to stop Dare from preventing the
assassination. After unsuccessfully attempting to return to the future, Dare
realized that he had succeeded in his mission and history had been changed. Finitus, in turn,
vowed to make further changes to route history back toward the Final Order.

The series was still in limbo two years later when the AMAZING HEROES PREVIEW SPECIAL
# 3 (Summer, 1986) revealed that pencilled pages for the entire first issue existed but
that "DC's promotion department" had "never heard of this one." (The penciller in question
was presumably Paris Cullins, cited in AMAZING HEROES # 50). In 1991, Mark Waid tipped his
hat to the character in his crossover with the similarly-themed "Armageddon 2001" in FLASH
ANNUAL # 4, with this brief reference: "Elongated Man's kid turned out okay.
Zeroman's boy even inherited his powers."

Did Zero-Man survive ZERO HOUR ? Only time will tell.

MikishawmMember

posted September 10, 2000 07:00 PM

1982: Star City was in turmoil thanks to strikes and dissension among its city
workers. The situation was being aggravated by a conglomerate of white collar
criminals and Green Arrow had learned that the mastermind was Machiavelli, a
charismatic would-be politician with ties to the mob. The Emerald Archer had
reckoned without Machiavelli's bodyguard, however. The flame-tressed assassin
wore a red costume with long white boots and announced that "it's MY job to
stop you ... if you intend to make yourself a pest." Pulling out "a pair of
hand-held, high-tech, pinpoint-accurate lasers," the Executrix made it clear
that she meant business.

Green Arrow leaped for cover behind an overturned table that was soon shredded
by the onslaught of deadly beams of light. Crawling amidst his scattered arrows,
GA spotted his "reflector-signal arrows. I normally use them to reflect sunlight ...
and flash an occasional morse code S.O.S. ... but they've just been drafted for
military service." The assassin's lasers bounced off the polished arrows,
destroying her weapons in the process. With the Executrix pinned to the wall
with half a dozen arrows ("You -- you wouldn't hit a woman, would you ?"),
the Emerald Archer learned the details of Machiavelli's scheme and prepared to expose
him (DETECTIVE COMICS # 523-524, by Joey Cavalieri, Irv Novick and Ron Randall).

The Executrix, after escaping from a Star City holding cell, went back into business,
selling her services to those who could meet her price. By 1985, she'd altered her
costume, retaining the red and white color scheme but exposing more flesh and
pulling her darkened hair into a knot on her head. Rather than rely on a
single weapon as she'd done with Green Arrow, the Executrix added a variety
of pieces to her arsenal, ranging from a rifle to an assortment of knives and
daggers to more "outre weaponry" that was only hinted at.

Her latest target was Ron Page (WORLD'S FINEST COMICS # 313) , a whistle-blower who
threatened to expose a cost-cutting move at Metrosteel that had resulted in tragedy. "A
new, cheaper process in making steel ... also turns steel brittle, so that it
shatters after a short while." Page revealed the details to a Daily Planet
reporter but the Executrix murdered him before he could file the story.

Superman and Batman agreed to watch over Page until the story was publicized but the
Executrix managed to capture him while on a train. Immobilized by sleep gas, Page was
dragged to the Gotham City Bridge, where the villainess planned to throw him
to his death. The Batman arrived but found himself held at bay as long as the
Executrix was holding a knife to her hostage's throat.

Leaning against the bridge, both kidnapper and hostage suddenly fell backwards as the
rail -- manufactured by Metrosteel -- began to crumble. Page grabbed onto the fragile
rail while the Executrix clutched at his jacket, screaming, "This isn't happening! This
wasn't supposed to happen! Save me!" As Batman pulled Ron to safety, the woman in red
plunged into the river. "Fitting," the Dark Knight said. "You can call it justice."

"YOU might call it justice, Batman," noted Superman, bursting from the water with the
unconscious Executrix in his arms, "But DEATH doesn't fit MY definition of
the term" (WFC # 314, by Cavalieri, Stan Woch and Alfredo Alcala).

MikishawmMember

posted September 16, 2000 10:38 AM

Drawn together in the heat of the moment, Tim pulled Diana close to him. Now, he
said, "I'm gonna try an' reach Lulu!"

"Wh-who's Lulu ?" she gasped.

"Lulu isn't a who! She's a what -- a -- a gun! And she talks the only
language those babies understand!"

************

Steve Trevor had to die. It wasn't quite as simple as all that but the man that some
had derided as "a male Lois Lane," whose singular life's goal seemed to be Wonder Woman's
hand in marriage, was clearly one of the elements that needed to be excised from
the floundering WONDER WOMAN comic book in 1968.

To shore up the title's sales, Mike Sekowsky, along with scripter Denny
O'Neil and editor Jack Miller, took a radical approach. After setting the
stage with a makeover of Diana Prince in WW # 178, the team stripped the
Amazon Princess of her powers in # 179, took Steve out of the picture
(leaving him comatose after an encounter with agents of the terrorist known
as Doctor Cyber) and introduced an elderly blind Chinese man named I Ching,
who offered to train Diana in the martial arts. But what of that man
shadowing Diana on page 23 ?

WONDER WOMAN # 180 answered that question decisively when the newly empowered Diana
confronted him, knocked a gun from his hand and threw him to the ground.

"You're gonna hate yourself when you find out what a nice guy I am!"

"'Nice guys' don't go around shooting at people!"

"Ya dumb chick -- I wasn't gunnin' for you! I was tryin' to save you -- from Cyber's
sweeties!"

On cue, a futuristic vehicle crashed the party with a burst of machine-gun fire.
Enter Lulu ... though the man ruefully noted "that blasted go-cart's armor-plated -- not a
chance of doing unto them like they tried to do unto us . At least I scared 'em off."

"One of Cyber's gunsels nailed my partner, Archy Miles. In my business, you
don't let anybody get away with killin' a pal ... cause they might make it a habit!"

You couldn't say Tim Trench wasn't pragmatic. Or sarcastic. Or chauvinistic. He was, in
many respects, as far removed from Steve Trevor as you could get. At this late
date, it's hard to say what each of the parties working on WONDER WOMAN
brought to the table. But Trench, with his Dickensian name (think "trenchcoat"), smart
mouth and St. Louis address, is clearly O'Neil's baby, an acerbic private eye verging on
a parody of the pulp detectives that he'd loved as a boy.

Despite showing zero interest in Diana, Tim became the romantic lead in the series
almost by default. By the end of # 180, Steve was dead, cut down in a hail of bullets
by the forces of Doctor Cyber. Tim fared somewhat better though he ended up
in the hands of Cyber and her army of women.

Ching and Diana, meanwhile, had launched a rescue mission and, in the course
of their assault, Tim had managed to free himself, picking up a machine to
replace the confiscated Lulu. "Rest easy, chums ... just like in John Wayne
flicks -- here comes the marines!"

Collectively the trio escaped, with Tim cutting off the air supply in the subterranean
bunker, Diana creating an exit with a grenade and Ching providing the getaway
submarine. Recalling the name of a small country named Bjorland that Cyber
had mentioned, Tim made an announcement:

"Go collect grampa an' get packed! We're gonna take ourselves a European vacation!"

"Shouldn't we plan ..."

"I got a plan! Get Cyber before she gets us!"

Against all reason, Diana found herself "becoming fond of Tim -- very fond! He's crusty ...
but he's also strong, decisive ... a man! At times he makes me forget Steve ...
almost! I wonder if being human means being fickle!"

The feelings were, by all accounts, not mutual, with Tim regarding his partners as little
more than a means to an end:

"Maybe I should leave Di and Ching at home," he thought at one point, "but they might be
useful ... and I can always ditch 'em if necessary."

It all came together in the center of a Bjorland ski village, where Diana and company
fought their way through a small army to find Cylvia Cyber attempting to escape in a
helicopter. Caught in Trench's gunsights, Cyber offered an alternative:

"Diana Prince and Ching are my enemies. You, however, are not!"

"Be careful ... she's up to something," warned Diana.

"I certainly am. I am up to showing Mr. Trench a tiny fraction of my weekly profit ...
the gems I brought here to be deposited in a Swiss bank. Look at it, Mr. Trench," Cyber
murmured, the jewels sifting through her fingers into the box, "look -- and
know that this could be yours." As proof of his loyalty, the bad doctor had a simple request:
the deaths of Prince and Ching. Tim raised his gun and, smiling, opened fire.

When issue # 182 opened, all parties were still standing. "I missed on
purpose,"Tim explained. "Next time I won't! Consider that a warnin' ... I'm
leavin'! An' Cyber's jewel box is leavin' with me! One thing I never could
resist is temptation! An' that much bread is temptation in spades!

"Ya may not believe this, Di and Ching ... but I wish ya the best of luck. As
for you, Cyber ... remember -- as I relieve you of the burden of your
ill-gotten gains -- Crime Does Not Pay!"

"As you will find out, Mr. Trench --when we meet again!"

"So long, crowd!" Tim called from the rising copter. "See ya in the funny papers!"

Flash forward to 1976. As editor of DETECTIVE COMICS, Julius Schwartz had a desire to
return a genuine private eye to the title, something he'd done previously with Frank Robbins'
Jason Bard in 1972 and 1973. This time, Schwartz approached the man he often
came to when faced with a new project: Denny O'Neil. The result, illustrated
by Pablo Marcos and Al Milgrom, appeared in issue # 460:

"Trench is my name and call me what you will ... shamus, gumshoe, even
private eye! Like they say, names'll never hurt me!"

In six pages, O'Neil reestablished Tim (much younger than his earlier incarnation),
setting him up in a St. Louis office situated above a movie revival house overseen by
Box-Office Sadie. He also had a police contact in the form of Lieutenant
Komb. The humor of the earlier appearances was gone and, without it, the
story did not exactly set the world aflame.

Issue # 461's second installment, in which Tim grudgingly accepted a job to protect
a mobster en route to the airport, was a bit of an improvement though still a minor
effort. In the end, the hood is killed and Trench pins the blame on one of
his underlings. In light of his exit in WW # 182, there was more than a touch
of irony in Tim's response:

"On top of everything else, you're a traitor, and -- I can't stand traitors!"

Bob Rozakis, responding to the feedback on the series in # 464, wrote that "Tim Trench
was an experiment. Unfortunately, much of the reader reaction was unfavorable so it
is unlikely we'll see Mr. Trench again."

Nonetheless, Tim still managed to receive a full-page entry in 1986's WHO'S WHO # 24,
with art by Sandy Plunkett and P. Craig Russell. The write-up suggested that the two
incarnations of Tim Trench were the same person, leading one to speculate
that Tim must have cashed in Cyber's diamonds on plastic surgery. It would
probably be as simple to consider the later Tim as the earlier version's
Earth-Two counterpart.

Nearly a decade later, Mark Millar and Phil Hester provided what might be the
capper to Trench's illustrious career in SWAMP THING # 162 (1995):

Basically, an evil druid had taken the Houma, Louisiana police department captive
and the hostages phoned Hero Hotline for help:

"You know, the department I told you about that can put us in touch with any super-hero
who carries a beeper ... Who are they sending ? Uh, they said they were sending
someone with more than ten years' experience dealing with stuff like this ...
some guy named Tim Trench. He's supposed to be one of the best in the
business. Uh-huh ... Yeah, I never heard of him either."

Midway through the story, we were told that Tim had been stuck in traffic.
When he finally drove into town (in a car with a bumper sticker reading
"Support Your Local Super-Hero"), Trench was informed that the
threat was over. He was dressed like the Spirit (with a different color
scheme) --brown hat and gloves, green jacket, domino mask. Oh, yes, and a
shirt with a big red "T" on it!

The following exchange comes verbatim from page 21. I've taken the liberty of replacing
each representation of the trademark Vertigo profanity with the word "orangutan."

Trench: Orangutan traffic! My agent's gonna fry my orangutan for this, just
you wait and see! There goes another two hundred and fifty bucks tax free
cash! Orangutan! Hey,listen, while I'm here, I might as well give you my
card, right ? Just in case you ever need any help of the super-hero variety.

Bystander: Tim Trench ? Orangutan, what kind of name is that ?

Trench: What's so funny about Tim Trench, you orangutan ? What are you called
that's so great ?

Bystander: I've just got a normal name. It might not be anything special but
at least I don't sound like an orangutan.

As he was brought into custody, the Bounty Hunter assured the Fairfax police that he
was going to reveal a spectacular story. Before he could utter another word,
the assassin was gunned down by a robotic orb known as the Pupil. The Master did not tolerate
betrayal (ADVENTURE COMICS # 484, by Marv Wolfman, Don Heck and Dennis Jensen).

Within two weeks, the shadowy Master had gathered another eight operatives. His targets
were the mysterious string of super-beings that had popped in Fairfax over the last few
months. The Master insisted that were only two people behind the multiple heroes.
Addressing his operatives, he announced, "I KNOW they are the same, for I
know their SECRET -- they possess the mystic power-dials. Dials I have been searching for --
ever since I KILLED the man who created them. And you -- my Evil Eight -- you will help
me FIND those dials ... and then help me CONTROL the world, as well!"

Chondak was a super-strong blue ape whose brain was visible in a clear dome.

The woman with reddish-blonde hair had a crimson costume covering her torso, an orange
cape and golden bracelets, necklace and belt. She was the Familiar. "Whatever I
TOUCH, I can BECOME. This plumbing pipe is made of steel ... now, so am I."

Ice King was capable of manipulating cold in a variety of ways, sending out blasts of
frigid air and solid ice darts and well as travelling through the air on ice sleds. The
bare-chested villain wore a silver helmet and blue and silver pants.

Imagine Wolverine in his orange costume -- with a wolf's head and hairy pelt covering
most of his head and chest and the leftovers making up gloves and boots. This was the feral
K-9. "I move like the wild dog whose blood I share. And I lust for your death
... like the man-killing wolf."

Dressed in a black body suit covered by a white jacket and boots that climbed up his
thighs, the reddish-brown haired man was a somewhat demented acrobat dubbed Maniak.

Primarily outfitted in white (with a red cape and black face), Phantasm could turn himself
immaterial and was capable of summoning demonic entities to attack his foes.

The hulking Piledriver seemingly possessed steel arms and a matching torso along with long
purple hair and red pants. "There ain't nothing I can't smash!" he boasted.

The heroes behind the "H" dials, Chris King and Vicki Grant, won their first skirmish,
using the powers of Gravity Boy and the Hummingbird to defeat Chondak and Ice King. A second
battle against the entire group left Chris and Vicki (as Blast Boy and Hydra)
frozen in an iceberg, courtesy of the freed Ice King. The marauders' plan to
steal an ion cannon was a success!

On orders of the Master, the members of the Evil Eight planted ion couplings at strategic
locations throughout Fairfax in anticipation of a full-fledged takeover the following
morning. With the push of a button, the city was sealed in a force field, "an
incredible, unshatterable ion curtain." Within hours, the Justice League of
America had been called to the scene but even the combined might of Superman,
Wonder Woman and Green Lantern failed to make a dent in the violet dome.

The heroes on the interior -- now known as Electrostatic and Hyptella -- evaded
a tree trunk tossed their way by Chondak and the ghosts conjured by Phantasm. A fierce
attack by K-9 left Electrostatic reeling but Hyptella seemed to have the
lupine villain under her mental control. Smashing the ground with his fists,
Chondak sent out "ripples of pure power ... shock-waves which cause the ground to fairly
tremble." The staggering force was enough to knock the heroes unconscious.

Imprisoned by the Master, Electrostatic and Hyptella were stunned at just how much
knowledge he possessed regarding their "H" dials. Aware that they would revert back to
their normal forms within an hour, the villain simply needed to wait until
that moment to take the talismans for himself.

Turning away from his captives for a moment, the Master placed a phone call to President
Reagan, demanding "Fairfax as my own independent country." Advised that the resident
heroes of Fairfax might yet pull off a miracle, Reagan stalled the terrorist,
insisting on at least ten minutes to weigh his options. "Sighh ... nothing
like THIS ever happened in my movies."

While the Master had been on the phone, Hyptella unexpectedly changed back to the
smaller form of Vicki, quickly freeing Electrostatic, whose own electrical powers opened
their cell before he reverted back to Chris. After that, the kids played a
game of cat and mouse, evading the Evil Eight for an hour until the dials
recharged. In the interim, they watched the Familiar touch a steel pipe and
become a gleaming metal woman -- and dodged the explosive darts fired by Arsenal.

After an agonizing sixty minutes, the kids became Lumino and Sonik, now able to project
constructs of light and sound. Arsenal was taken down by Lumino's powers and the Familiar
was sealed in a cage of solid light. Transforming herself into a being of the
light, the villainess seemed triumphant until Sonik blasted her with "a
shrieking wail ... a horrible, ear-shattering scream." The remaining sextet
quickly fell behind their allies. With the exception of Piledriver, who
resurfaced in 1998's JLA # 18 (now sporting blonde hair), none of the eight
rogues ever reappeared.

As the Evil Eight were taken into custody and the ion dome shut down, Lumino found
a note from the now absent Master: "I know your secret, and one day I shall return to make
that secret my own" (1981's ADVENTURE COMICS # 485).

The threat of the Master continued to loom in the background of Chris and Vicki's lives
over the next several months as he menaced them from behind the scenes over and over again
(ADVENTURE # 488, 490; NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY # 28, 35-37, 42-45). In one
key adventure, Chris and Vicki joined forces with Superman to discover the
source of the Master's seemingly endless supply of super-powered minions. From the Bounty
Hunter and the Evil Eight onward, they'd all been clones, created using technology from the
DNA Project and Simyan and Mokkari's Evil Factory (1982's DC COMICS PRESENTS # 44).

A final clash with the Master's army culminated with the capture of Chris, Vicki and
their cartoonist friend Nick Stevens, whose creations were somehow being manifested
as the duo's heroic identities (NAOS # 46-48) . Incredibly, the Master no
longer remembered why he'd sought the dial. At that moment, a being known as
the Wizard appeared, used a third dial and merged with the Master. In their
place stood Robby Reed, the hero who originally dialed "H" for hero! (# 49,
plot by E. Nelson Bridwell, script by Bob Rozakis and pencils by Howard Bender)

During a battle with the villainous Shirkon, Robby found it necessary to become two
people and dialed "D-I-V-I-D-E." He became both "the Wizard -- filled with all
the power of good magic" and an evil scientific genius that was Reed's double.
The evil Reed commanded the dial to "H-I-D-E." The dial vanished...and
with it, the memories of (Reed's) previous life." (NAOS # 49). The dial
reappeared on the parallel world of Earth-32 with the lost memories housed in
an addled duplicate of Reed (PLASTIC MAN (second series) # 13).

Meanwhile, the evil Reed (as the Master) gained access to the DNA Project (SUPERMAN
FAMILY # 194) and began creating his army of villains. To combat these marauders, the
Wizard created two new "H" dials (NAOS # 45) and arranged for two youngsters named
Chris King and Vicki Grant to find them and become super-heroes themselves (LEGION OF
SUPER-HEROES # 272). In a subsequent confrontation, the Master erroneously became
convinced that he'd killed the Wizard (NAOS # 45).

Ultimately, the Wizard located the original "H" dial and restored Robby to normal.
Exhausted, Reed proclaimed himself retired from the super-hero game and
presented his dial to Nick. "Obviously my good side saw a strength of
character in ALL THREE of you -- and since YOU are the one whose ideas became
the heroes, you deserve to become those heroes too! Good luck ... all of you"
(NAOS # 49). "And then there were three!"

Moonlight KnightNew Member

posted September 18, 2000 03:08 AM

Hey Mikishawm, I've enjoyed reading your posts on the various obscure characters.
I find them very educational. How do you do it? Do you have all of these comics, are
have databases on characters on your computer or what? Just curious and thanks for all
your hard work.

DarqueGuyMember

posted September 18, 2000 06:51 AM

Wow, these are amazing! And I thought I was up on my comic book trivia.

One question, though...somebody mentioned the Image, right? Well, wasn't there a Charlton
villain called the Image besides the one that was described here? He wore an
orange bodysuit with a visor and had an "i" insignia on his chest (which is interesting,
because the character appeared years before the company Image was founded, and they use
the exact same styling of the letter "i"). I don't know of any appearances other than
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.

Any clues, anybody?

XeroMember

posted September 20, 2000 01:17 PM

Was Doctor Reno Franklin the Forever Man black? I think I remember him.

T5Member

posted September 20, 2000 01:39 PM

Does anyone remember the Toyman from ACTION COMICS # 432?
Did he pop up again, and if so were?

MikishawmMember

posted September 20, 2000 06:09 PM

Moonlight Knight --

I've spent the better part of twenty years compiling lists of all of DC
characters so I just tap into those whenever I need to write a bio.

DarqueGuy --

I'll try to do the Image bio this weekend. You're correct, though, that there was
a Charlton villain by that name in addition to the FATE character. In the mid-1980s, there
was nearly another Image, this one a spin-off from Len Wein's GREEN LANTERN. More
details soon!

Xero --

Reno Franklin was white.

T5 --

The youthful second Toyman returned in ACTION # 454 and SUPERMAN # 299.
Winslow Schott killed him in SUPERMAN # 305 and took his name back.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate it.

MikishawmMember

posted September 24, 2000 11:03 AM

A starstruck audience lining the street in front of Metropolis' Glenside
Theater got more than they bargained for when the actress Laurel Amour
arrived for the gala premiere of her latest film in February of 1942.
Bursting from the audience was a gun-toting man in a three-piece suit and a
large blue-mirrored domino mask. He quickly relieved Laurel of her jewelry.

Defiant even as armed policemen surrounded him, the thief boasted that "it takes more
than a threat to worry the Image!" Pulling open his jacket to reveal a button-covered
chestplate, the Image suddenly multiplied. "Eleven reflections of myself ...
and if you dare fire at any one of them, you'll be shooting at empty air ...
but I won't!"

Clark Kent instantly realized that the police were out of their league and pursued
the Image's speeding car as Superman. Employing his chest switchboard once more, the
villain filled the highway with duplicates of his vehicle. With his mastery
of his vision powers still in the future, the Man of Steel was stymied.

The mystery deepened when Superman learned a detective named Allan Pryor had recovered
the gems for Laurel Amour, who opined that "it cost me plenty!" The Man of Steel followed
the Pryor connection to jewelry clerk Tom Phelps. After a few threats from
Superman, Phelps pointed the hero towards the Runyan Galleries.

The Image had overheard Phelps' betrayal and proceeded to terrorize his accomplice. Unable
to find the exit amidst a dozen false doors and surrounded by multiple gun-clenching
hands, the disoriented clerk fell out of an open window to his death.

Determined to go through with the gallery robbery, the Image took Lois Lane as a hostage.
Once more, the Man of Steel was sidetracked, pushing his powers to the limit to find the
real Lois amidst the duplicates plunging from a cliff. Refining his vision
powers, Superman zeroed in on the hundreds of Images taking flight and
finally grabbed the only one who cast a shadow.

The villain identified himself as Angus Calhoun, owner of Phelps' jewelry store. "By day,
I sold priceless gems, then stole them back at night to double my profits. Of
course, my discovery of how to cast bewildering reflections of myself helped
... and I'd have continued to get away with my crimes if it hadn't been for YOU!"
(SUPERMAN Sunday comic strips # 119-124, reprinted in SUPERMAN: THE SUNDAY CLASSICS
1939-1943)

In 1945, Doll Man clashed with the second Image, "a killer who can't be seen"
(Quality's FEATURE COMICS # 92).

The arrival of a third Image had to wait until 1967 when a man emerged from Eve
Eden's bedroom mirror and tried to pull her through the looking glass. He wore an orange
costume and hood (plus yellow belt and visor) and had a black lower-case "i"
on his chest and forehead. The Image was a foreign operative who imagined
that he could use Eve as a bargaining chip to convince her Senator father to
change his vote on a defense bill.

The Image had reckoned without his hostage being a super-heroine. Eve switched out the
lights and took the shadowy form of Nightshade. Taking flight back through the mirror,
the Image tossed an explosive behind him only to have Nightshade deflect it right back into
his mirror portal (Charlton's CAPTAIN ATOM # 87, by Dave Kaler and Jim Aparo).

The Image resurfaced during the Great Crisis as one of multitudes of villains recruited
to terrorize the worlds of the Freedom Fighters, Marvel Family and Charlton
heroes (1985's CRISIS # 9). In current continuity, the villain's appearances
consist of two panels in a 1988 recounting of Nightshade's history (SECRET
ORIGINS # 28). The art depicted Nightshade defeating the villain with a kick
on the steps of the Capital as Eve recalled that King "Faraday began letting
me go solo, and I stopped a threat to my father -- a creep calling himself
the Image!" Bob Greenberger wrote the story while pencils were provided by
Rob Liefeld, who later helped found that company with the lower-case "i" as
its emblem. What was its name again ?

Much of the groundwork for a fourth Image had been laid in 1984 issues of GREEN
LANTERN by Len Wein. They related the story of Clay Kendall (# 172), a Ferris Aircraft
scientist whose psionics experiments had created a psi-chair (# 173) that fueled his desire
to become a super-hero (# 175). He attempted to do just that when the
Demolition Team attacked Ferris only to have his chair short-circuit and
explode (# 179), severing his spinal cord (# 180). A devastated Kendall was
encouraged by his girl friend to rebuild the chair and become a super-hero anyway (# 183).

Where all of this was headed had been detailed months earlier in AMAZING HEROES # 39,
which revealed that Clay's experiments would ultimately come to fruition in the
form of the Image, a hero Wein described as "everything that Kendall
wishes he was" and whom he hoped would spin off to his own series.
Accompanying the article was Dave Gibbons' portrayal of the Image.

Unfortunately, thanks to Wein's slow pacing, the Image never made it on stage
before Wein left the series with # 186. Clay Kendall, for what it's worth,
went out with a bang as a representative of the millions killed in Coast
City's demolition in 1993's SUPERMAN # 80.

Instead the fourth Image was introduced in 1997's BOOK OF FATE # 5 (by Keith Giffen,
Ron Wagner and Bill Reinhold). Earlier issues had established the series lead, Jared (Fate)
Stevens as being in a tug of war between Lords of Order and Chaos, each demanding
that he swear allegiance to them. The battle reached a climax on the dream plane, where
Fate stumbled across a young blonde man in a light blue and orange costume.

"Okay," Jared said. "I'll bite. What's with the get-up ?"

"Get-up ? Oh you mean my crime-fighting uniform."

He was, in Fate's opinion, too pure- hearted to stomach. The blonde quickly became
fed up with Jared's attitude ("You ARE a rude one aren't you ?") and announced that he'd
"just be flying on my way."

"Did you just say FLY ?"

"I've also got enhanced strength and stamina, the ability to ... "

Stevens cut him off and demanded that he fly him to the Chaos area of the dream plane.
The blonde, whom Fate had figured as an agent of Order, refused to enter the dark region,
noting that "I think it would try to kill me ... if I tried." Stevens entered
without him as the young man said, "I, um ... didn't catch your name."

"I didn't throw it."

"I call myself the Image."

"Now look what y' done. You've gone and mistaken me for someone who gives a damn."

After fighting through agents of Chaos, Fate found himself opposed by a representative of
Order and his champion, a mid-controlled Image. Helpless to resist, the Image attacked
only to be cut by Fate's mystic knife and thrown against the Lord of Order,
disrupting his concentration and returning Fate to Earth. At his side was a
teenage boy in an orange shirt, blue shorts and sneakers who asked, "Um ...
uh ... what just happened here ?"

Was the persona of the Image all in the young man's mind ? If not, was he killed
during Mordru's slaughter of Earth's other agents of Order and Chaos in JSA # 1 and 2 or
was he beneath the Dark Lord's notice ? Only time will tell.

HellstoneMember

posted September 29, 2000 06:27 AM

As you can see, this has more and more evolved into Mikishawm's own thread. And
nobody is happier for that than I am. (Why settle for anything or anyone but the best?)
But nevertheless, I'd like to invite more posters here. If you have something to ask about
regarding a forgotten DC character, this is the place. And if you know
anything about the characters asked about, feel free to answer the questions.
I'm sure there are more DC experts here than Mikishawm, DR Black, Rich
Morrissey, and John Moores. The questions asked that have not yet been answered are:

Keep it up. And feel free to continue the list.I still think this a fun thread.

/ola

taz_19632000Member

posted September 30, 2000 09:07 AM

You know I for one am glad to have access to this board it is very informative and
helpful to me.

Some characters that are obscure (to me) include: Joshua (from TEEN TITANS);
Swashbuckler; and the Inferior 5. Also, how about the Ant and also Anti-Lad?

MikishawmMember

posted October 08, 2000 09:57 PM

Consider the Ant and company added to the list! At the rate I'm going, it
may take a while but I'll get to 'em eventually.

In the darkness, Ike Loges felt the floor give way and grabbed at something --anything --
to keep from falling. Blinking as the lights flashed to life, Loges gasped when he
realized that he was dangling from a window where the ceiling used to be -- a
window with a view of a nearly upside-down River City skyline. Seated
comfortably on a desk on the wall was a stranger in a garish patchwork
three-piece suit and tie with clashing designs and bright colors(mostly red,
blue and yellow). Completing the clown effect was a rubber mask with blank
eyes (one red, one yellow), a frozen white smile and close-cropped black hair.

"He came from nowhere, garbed in a confused costume that would make a carnival clown
blush with embarrassment. His weapons were absurd -- impossible! But somehow he became
the terror of criminals, and everyone began to wonder ... who is ... The Odd Man ?"
-- 1979's DETECTIVE COMICS # 487 (text by Paul Levitz ?).

In 1978, DC had planned an ambitious expansion of their line that would transform a
standard 32 page comic with 17 story pages into a 48 page comic with 25 story pages (with
the cover price increasing from 35 cents to 50). In the case of Steve Ditko's
SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN title, the additional eight pages would be given over
a back-up feature of his own creation.

First seen in a house ad for the impending "DC Explosion," the Odd Man's debut in
SHADE # 9 was subsequently touted in a Daily Planet coming attractions page in DC COMICS
PRESENTS # 2 with a release date of June 19, 1978. Unknown to most readers,
however, was the fact that DC had decided in April to cancel several marginal
titles that probably wouldn't survive with a 50 cent price tag. These
included AQUAMAN, MISTER MIRACLE, NEW GODS, THE SECRET SOCIETY OF
SUPER-VILLAINS and ... SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN. Plans were quickly made to
shift at least some of the material prepared for those books to other titles.
The Odd Man was slated for December's BLACK LIGHTNING # 14, after a Ray three-parter
in # 11-13 had run its course.

Fate had other plans. In essence, Warner Communications execs decreed that, to test
a new form of distribution, the average DC title should have the same page count as their
competitors. It was announced on June 22 that, effective with comics on sale
in September, all DCs would return to 17 pages of story content (but with a
cover price of 40 cents). To provide consistency to the DC line, all of the
thirty-two page books were promoted to monthly status. Books whose sales did
not justify being a monthly and the new titles whose sales had not yet been
proven were cancelled. Consequently, another twenty-three comics met their
demise, including six that never even saw their first issue published.

BLACK LIGHTNING's final issue turned out to be # 11 and the Odd Man made his debut in
a black and white xeroxed collection known as CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE that was
distributed to DC staffers. Fifteen months after his originally scheduled
introduction, Ditko's wildly-dressed hero got a more widely distributed
appearance in DETECTIVE COMICS # 487 (with an on-sale date of September 10, 1979).

Ditko had both written and illustrated the story but his friend (and current publisher)
Robin Snyder reports that the dialogue was altered somewhat when it finally appeared,
presumably by 'TEC editor Paul Levitz. The logo box on the splash page, for
instance, originally read simply "The Odd Man in 'The Pharaoh and the Mummies!'". In the
'TEC version, the introductory text (used in my second paragraph) appeared.

River City, it seemed, had seen a recent string of jewel robberies and related murders.
The Odd Man believed that Ike Loges, "the city's biggest jewelry fence,"would have
details on the crimes and he was correct -- to an extent. Loges had no
specifics but he'd heard that an antiques dealer was a target. "Then the
light dims and blacks out -- as does Ike Loges. When he awakens, he will find
himself back in his car and will try to convince himself he has just had a
bad dream ... he won't succeed."

The disorienting topsy turvy concealed room was the most ambitious weapon in the
Odd Man's repertoire but it was far from the only one. His polka-dot clip-on tie had a
heavy metal weight at its top that made an effective projectile or bolo, his
white "smoke gloves" released a cloud of disorienting powder and a small can
of oil spray tripped up his foes.

The jewel thief proved to be a madman dressed like an Egyptian Pharaoh but equipped
with a futuristic ray-gun called he Mummifier that encased its victims in a cocoon of
clear plastic that suffocated them instantly. Escaping the Odd Man, the Pharaoh
handed a single Nile jewel that he'd stolen to a Cleopatra wanna-be.

Elsewhere, the Odd Man had returned to his alter-ego of Clay Stoner, a sandy
blonde-haired private eye. He drafted his friend and confidante Judge Brass to help him
figure out the common link in the thefts. Using his connections, Brass learned that a
Nile gem had been among the items stolen in each theft. Brass suggested that
Clay talk to the River City Museum's Egyptian authority about "the
significance of those gems." Clay, who'd gotten bad vibes from the museum's
Mrs. Nyla, decided that the Odd Man should ask the questions.

A visit to the Nyla home revealed a veritable shrine to Egypt, one whose curators
disliked uninvited guests. Mrs. Nyla and her lover, the Pharaoh, forced the Odd Man into
a sarcophagus, sealing it with the Mummifier. Clay, however, had done a
chemical analysis of the plastic after his last encounter with it and had devised
a solvent to melt it away.

Elsewhere, the Pharaoh and his queen remained on-model as he announced that he had
"restored the Nile necklace."

"Praise Ra!" she cheered. "After three thousand years, I will wear it again!"

The Odd Man disrupted the ceremony and the latter-day King Tut vowed that the
hero "would join the others -- in sacred mummification!" Instead, the Pharaoh
slipped on an oil slick created by the Odd Man and sealed his lover in
plastic. In shock, he cried, "my queen -- my love -- my reason for living.
You were the true reincarnation of the first Nile queen. And I have robbed
you of this life. There is but one thing left for me to do now -- to join
you!" Before Clay could act, the Pharaoh turned the Mummifier on himself.

Ditko drew the Odd Man on two further occasions, the first of which, ironically, was
in another comic book scuttled by the DC Implosion -- SHOWCASE # 106, a 25 page Creeper
story originally slated for publication in August of 1978. In a cameo with
intriguing implications, the Odd Man was present on the set of a TV pilot
being filmed at Gotham City's WHAM-TV when the Creeper and the evil Doctor
Storme burst in. Was the Odd Man/Pharaoh story merely an episode of a DCU TV
series ?

The other appearance was a line-up of Ditko's DC creations seen in the "DC Profiles"
entry in 1980's BATMAN # 322 and LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES # 262. Looking at the heroes
depicted there, one can't help but be depressed by the fact that five of the seven
(Hawk, Dove, Stalker, Creeper, Starman) have been killed outright (though the
latter two got better) and Shade was altered beyond recognition in the Vertigo series.
A far cry from the veneration given Jack Kirby's contributions to the DCU.

The Odd Man remains unscathed although that's largely because his obscurity places him
below the radar of all but the most hardcore fans-turned-pro. He popped up in one panel
of 1989's HERO HOTLINE # 5, suggesting a possible connection with the Bob
Rozakis & Stephen DeStefano-created team. A decade later, the Odd Man --
and Hero Hotline -- returned as one of several candidates for a position at
Project Cadmus (1999's SUPERBOY # 65, by Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett and Dan
Davis). In the wake of a brawl initiated by old Ditko villains Punch and
Jewelee, the fashion-challenged hero made his goodbyes to Superboy, noting that he'd
had "more fun than fish on bicycles. No -- I CAN'T stay! Don't ASK, don't TELL!"

Watching him walk away sideways across a wall, Superboy could only think of one
thing to say: "What an ODD MAN -- !"

Rich MorrisseyMember

posted October 09, 2000 10:11 AM

Originally posted by Mikishawm:

The other appearance was a line-up of Ditko's DC creations seen in the "DC
Profiles" entry in 1980's BATMAN # 322 and LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES # 262.
Looking at the heroes depicted there, one can't help but be depressed by the
fact that five of the seven (Hawk, Dove, Stalker, Creeper, Starman) have been
killed outright (though the latter two got better) and Shade was altered
beyond recognition in the Vertigo series.

As were Captain Atom and The Question, two more Ditko creations, in their post-Crisis
series. Hawk, of course, was turned into Monarch in the badly-received ARMAGEDDON 2001
series (published seven years early IIRC); a role originally planned, according to
reports, for Captain Atom. What did DC have against Ditko characters, anyway?

HellstoneMember

posted October 09, 2000 11:25 AM

At least the Question and Rac Shade were greatly enhanced when they were altered
(imho). And the Question was not altered SO much "beyond recognition".
And at least Stalker had a fitting end of his life, instead of just hovering
around in comic book limbo. As a big Ditko fan myself, i wouldn't say most of
his characters have been THAT mistreated. Not compared to, say...Plastic Man.
Or the Legion.

Cap Atom and Hawk and Dove are a totally different subject, of course.

HISTORY:
The son of a circus strongman and a famous acrobat, Eddie Whit proved early
in his life that he mastered the skills of both his parents. While still a
teen, Eddie was orphaned after his parents were killed in a car accident.
Eddie became the guardian of his younger brother Danny, who worshipped Eddie
more than anyone else. Due to the difficulties of earning money at their age,
both Eddie and Danny got themselves into trouble for some time. While Eddie
was sent to the alternative reform school called Lacklock Camp, Danny was
sent to an orphanage. During this time, Danny associated with a lawbreaking
teen gang called the Sharks.

After Eddie was released from Lacklock, he started taking care of Danny again.
At the same time, a costumed criminal called the Ant began a crime rampage that got
the media's attention. The Ant displayed extraordinary abilities of strength and
ability, just like Eddie. This grabbed the attention of a Dr. Paul Turner, manager of
Lacklock, who suspected that Eddie might be the Ant, and contacted the Teen
Titans to investigate if that was the case. Lacklock was a very successful
liberal reform school, with no cells, locks, or fences, where the students
were allowed to participate in sound activities, keeping them from crime.
Eddie was the first Lacklock student ever that - if he indeed was the Ant -
had returned to criminal activities, and Turner was worried that the bad
publicity would make the authorities force him to abandon his
"soft" methods. The Titans agreed that this was a situation they
all wanted to avoid.

The Teen Titans encountered the Ant, attempting to bring him in. But the Ant avoided
their clutches and escaped surprisingly easily, outshining Robin himself with his
acrobacy and giving even Wonder Girl a match.

The Titans sought out Eddie Whit at his and Danny's apartment. Though Danny would
not believe that Eddie was the criminal Ant, the Teen Titans soon found evidence of
that being the case. Eddie appeared but escaped the Teen Wonders once again, his speed
taking even Kid Flash with surprise. Danny accompanied the Titans as they
tracked Eddie to his employer, Mister Krask of Zenith Caterers Company.
Spying on Eddie, they learned that Eddie was indeed the Ant, which left Danny
heart-broken, before they all realised that Eddie was also manipulated by his
employer. Eddie did not want to pull any more crime capers for Krask, but for
some reason, Krask was able to force him to continue.

The next time the Ant appeared, he stole a considerable amount of money at a charity
picnic. Helping Eddie flee, Danny approached him and furiously asked him why he did
this dirty work. Eddie revealed that Krask had shown him pictures of Danny
being associated with the criminal Sharks gang, and that the pictures were to
be given to the police if Eddie did not assist Krask. A puzzled Danny said
that while he had met the gang, he had never joined them or done anything
illegal, so the police would mean no trouble for him.

Realising that Krask had duped Eddie, the two brothers joined forces and lured Krask
and his men into the Camp Lacklock area, where the criminals were easily defeated through
the combined efforts of the Ant, the Teen Titans, and the Lacklock students.
After that Eddie deeply apologized to the Titans and Doctor Turner, Turner
answered that while Eddie still had to face justice for his crimes, he would
use his influence so all Eddie would get was more time at Lacklock. Eddie was
very grateful.

The Ant has not been seen since. Neither have Eddie Whit or his brother Danny.

POWERS, SKILLS, AND WEAPONS:
The Ant had tremendous strength, speed, and agility, was an extraordinary
acrobat and could leap several metres without effort.

Although it was never said that the Ant was anything more than human, his skills
supposedly stemming from the genes and training of his parents, the Ant's extraordinary
abilities suggests that there was something more to it. Although his strength was
nowhere near Wonder Girl's, it was enough to keep her off-balance. Same with
the speed, which, while not in Kid Flash's class, was able to take him by
surprise. The Ant's acrobacy outshined even that of Robin the Boy Wonder, and
he could seemingly leap longer and higher than any non-superpowered human
being. All this suggests that the Ant had some meta-human powers, though
perhaps he had not realized that himself.

In addition, the Ant used some specially-developed suction cups that allowed
him to climb walls.

---

The adventure was reprinted in an issue of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD (circa #110)
in the early 70s. As far as I know, the Ant has never reappeared since. (Correct me
if I'm wrong, Mikishawm.)

/ola

Tenzel KimMember

posted October 13, 2000 10:51 AM

Originally posted by Hellstone:

For once, I can help with at least one character here. This is a bio that
I wrote for Tenzel Kim's DC Guide: THE UNOFFICIAL ANT BIOGRAPHY

Great bio. When did you write that one? Have you ever sent it to me cause I
don't seem to remember ever seeing it before.

By the way, did you ever complete that update of the Hell profile? And do
you have anything new on the horizon?

Anyway speaking of the Guide, you've probably noticed it hasn't been updated for eons
so you might have come to the conclusion that I had given up on it, however that is not
the case. I've been working on a way to improve the site as I was still
pretty much unsatisfied with the way it looked. However, as I've had way too
little time lately to complete the updates I've had to put it on hold as I
want to update the entire site at the same time.

Right now I'm working on an important new feature, but in order to make that one really
good I need some info on Hawkman that I hope Mikishawm can provide. If it wouldn't be too
much trouble I'd like a complete list of Hawkman's appearances (all incarnations) and if
anyone would be interested in writing up some profiles on some of Hawkman's foes I wouldn't
complain.

I hope to be able to announce the update sometime this month.

MikishawmMember

posted October 13, 2000 06:56 PM

Many thanks, Hellstone! Excellent work! The Ant story was reprinted in BRAVE & BOLD
# 114 with a few pages cut.

I'm sorry to report that the Ant seemingly returned as a villain in the November page of
the 1977 DC Calendar (with art by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin). He fought the Teen
Titans at the site of Rome's Colosseum.

The caption states that the Ant is "a heinous super-villain whose only desire is to write
an end to the careers of Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy and the Guardian" --
a.k.a. Mal. No doubt there's more to the story -- like most everyone, I'd have liked to
have seen Eddie Whit revived as a hero -- but we've yet to hear details.

And Tenzel, here are the appearances of that obscure DC character that you asked about:

I don't know if he's been mentioned here before, but as a kid I always got
the Human Cannonball confused with Gangbuster. They both had those round
helmets, and they both showed up in SUPERMAN FAMILY...

taz_19632000Member

posted October 15, 2000 02:28 AM

Just to bring it to someones attention: the link to Obscure DCU Characters -
Round I is not working.

jbcNew Member

posted October 15, 2000 03:34 PM

Does anybody recall an unproduced DC comic called "Pandora Pan". I think I read
about it in an early issue of AMAZING HEROES.

HellstoneMember

posted October 16, 2000 04:05 AM

Tenz - yes, I've sent the Ant bio to you...ages ago.
At the same time that you got Judge Gallows, the Faceless Hunter, Detective Chimp,
and Gentleman Ghost. February this year, I believe.

The 'Hell' update is almost finished. I have a few questions still that I intend to
plague Mikishawm with in the near future. And I will update it with the recent Carnivore
storyline in SUPERGIRL. And I look forward to your update.

Mikishawm - The Hawkman checklist was impressive. Is it okay for me to ask a few
silly questions about DC's Hell and Demons in another thread? Do you have the time?

Taz - Yes, the link is sadly destroyed, I just noticed. Furthermore, I can't find the
copy I had of the original thread. So I guess that's history. I have it all printed out,
though, if there's anything you are wondering about.

See ya around.

/ola

Tenzel KimMember

posted October 16, 2000 02:57 PM

Originally posted by Hellstone:

Tenz - yes, I've sent the Ant bio to you...ages ago.
At the same time that you got Judge Gallows, the Faceless Hunter, Detective Chimp,
and Gentleman Ghost.

Damn. You're right. I just checked. I wonder what the hell I was doing at that time,
since I haven't made or uploaded any of those yet.

*Hitting himself hard over the head* Hmm, maybe that was what I was doing at the time,
since now I don't remember what I've just written. Who am I????

Well, thanks again. Now I have some more stuff to do

MikishawmMember

posted October 16, 2000 05:35 PM

Hellstone,

By all means, feel free to pick my brain. There's not much there at the moment but you
can stir the ashes.

I've spent the weekend working on the Nightwing Timeline (for the November issue of the
on-line DC journal "Fanzing") so I'm a bit exhausted from poring over all
those comics. I'll try to get back to the bios this weekend (if not sooner).
In the meantime, here's something on ...

Originally slated for release in July of 1982, Len Wein and Ross Andru's Pandora Pan was
described in TCR # 197 as "the assistant of an archaeologist who unwittingly opens
Pandora's Box and spends the rest of her time trying to retrieve the evil she
has unleashed by doing so."

Slated for a preview in June's SAGA OF SWAMP THING # 5, the series was instead put on
indefinite hiatus "due", according to TCR # 202, "to Len Wein's inability
to find the time to write it." A piece of promotional art also appeared
in # 201. Launched instead was ARION, LORD OF ATLANTIS, which had run for
several months in WARLORD.

This was a series that I'd actually been looking forward to and its pre-release
cancellation was a big disappointment. I regarded the Arion series as rather stodgy at
the time and would have preferred the more energetic Pandora -- especially with art by
the great Ross Andru.

Tenzel KimMember

posted October 17, 2000 11:20 PM

Has the Outlaw from the early issues of ALL-STAR WESTERN been covered? For some
reason I seem to remember having seen some info on him somewhere but looking
through my downloaded files I can't seem to find it.

If he hasn't been covered I'd like to know something about him as I've already found
a picture to go with the Who's Who profile I'll hopefully be able to put up on him on my
website

And speaking of old DC Western heroes, how about some info on El Diablo now that he
is slated to appear in a new Vertigo series this January?

taz_19632000Member

posted October 19, 2000 03:41 PM

Originally posted by Hellstone:

Taz - Yes, the link is sadly destroyed, I just noticed. Furthermore, I can't find
the copy I had of the original thread. So I guess that's history. I have it
all printed out, though, if there's anything you are wondering about.

Well what I really would like is to know if you could supply me with just the bios that
were covered in the thread?

You see, I keep my own database of comic-book super-heroes; and the more I learn about
the obscure charaters the better.

I would also appreciate it if you could direct me to any other threads like this that
might interest me. Even some that deal with cartoon characters that are not considered to
be "true DC" characters.

Tenzel KimMember

posted October 21, 2000 07:08 PM

Ola,

Just checked out your old mails to see which profiles I hadn't made ready for the update
of my site and I ran across one that said "Don't put up my 'Faceless Hunter' profile on your
site...not yet, at least, since I've recently learned there are a few errors in it. I'll get
back to you about that."

Have you fixed those errors so that I can get the Faceless Hunter ready for the update
as well?

And I'm still looking forward to your picking Mikishawm's brain for info for the
'Hell' profile

Fred Jenkins would do anything for his son. Diagnosed with a potentially fatal condition,
the boy was in desperate need of a life-saving -- but very expensive operation. With
no other options, Fred decided in early 1962 to take a series of high-risk,
high-paying jobs to finance the surgery.

While testing a one-man propeller device above Star City, Jenkins came to the attention
of Green Arrow and Speedy, who rescued him with helium balloon arrows when the flight
pack malfunctioned. At an impromptu press conference, Jenkins offered to
undertake any dangerous mission ("for the right price, of course") and, by
evening, his name had been broadcast up and down the coast. In a chance
encounter that night, the Amazing Archers rescued Fred again, this time while
he was salvaging gems for the owners of a wrecked freighter.

Inevitably, Jenkins was hired by an unscrupulous client. The day came while Fred was
testing a Cliff Climber, an orange tank with extendable arms and a clear plastic dome over
the driver's seat. The device worked flawlessly and Jenkins reported the news
via radio to its inventor, Doctor Davis.

Davis, a fifty-something man with curly gray hair, thick eyebrows and a mustache beneath
his bulbous nose, had further instructions: Jenkins was to use the tank's arms to steal a
rare jade statue from a suburban mansion.

Fred insisted that he couldn't comply but Davis responded that "you can -- and you WILL!
I sent you this way because the regular road up that mountain is guarded at the bottom.
What's more, I sealed you in. If you don't steal that statue, I need only
press a button that will blow up the vehicle, with you in it! Think it over."

After several minutes of silence, Davis triggered the explosion, observing that "now that
I know my invention works, I can build another and operate it myself." Before he had a
chance to react, Doctor Davis and his two partners were captured by Green
Arrow and Speedy -- in the company of Fred Jenkins.

Spotting the Arrow-Plane overhead, Jenkins had used the tank's arms to uproot
an American flag and turned it upside down ("the standard distress signal").
Alerted to Fred's plight, GA explained that "a few acetylene torch arrows did
the trick, burning off the dome."

Green Arrow predicted that Fred's reward for capturing the Davis gang "should be more
than enough to cover your son's operation." Still shaken from his experience, the young
man responded, "I don't mind telling you -- that last job cured me of risks
forever" (WORLD'S FINEST # 125, by Ed Herron and Lee Elias).

Though a minor adversary in Green Arrow's history, Doctor Davis had the good fortune
of appearing just as writer Gardner Fox was casting about for a representative GA villain
to use in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 14 (with art by Mike Sekowsky and Bernard
Sachs). Four months after the publication of WORLD'S FINEST # 125, Davis
returned in the JLA story, one of several crooks recruited by Mister Memory
(a.k.a. Amos Fortune) to use a De-Memorizer on the heroes and give them
amnesia. Using more of his inventions (a miniature aircraft and a lightning
generating baton), Davis distracted Green Arrow until he could use Mr.
Memory's device on the Emerald Archer.

Davis and his cohorts were soon captured by the League, of course, but the bad
doctor achieved a bit of immortality with his five panel (only two less than WFC!)
appearance in that issue (the twice-reprinted induction of the Atom), enabling fans
to remember his name when nearly all the other evil scientists of the era are
long forgotten.

MikishawmMember

posted October 22, 2000 06:59 PM

On the second Tuesday in January of 1977, twin robberies were carried out on the
United States' eastern seaboard. In New York City, the theft of a collection
of rare stamps went off without a hitch. In Gotham, where duplicates of those
stamps were on display at a local exhibition, an identical trio of thieves
had to work a little harder. The Teen Titans -- Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl
and newcomer The Joker's Daughter -- were on the scene, drawn there by JD's
unexplained "mental link with whomever planned the caper."

Flamesplasher, who sprayed fire from a nozzle attached to his left forearm. The
mustachioed rogue wore a blue costume with orange gloves and boots, a red cape as well as
a red-orange flame-like tiara/headpiece.

Sizematic, a rough and tumble muscleman in silver armor with a red and white
bullseye on his chest. He could enlarge to roughly triple his normal height.

Darklight, who projected a cloud of darkness. She had a blue costume, accented
with white gloves, boots, cape and tiara.

The battle did not go well for the Titans. Robin was swatted into unconsciousness by
the giant Sizematic, Kid Flash collapsed after exhausting himself trying to spin
Flamesplasher's fire away from him and Wonder Girl and the Joker's Daughter
unwittingly knocked one another out when they entered Darklight's field of
blackness in search of the villainess.

A rematch proved just as embrarrassing, with a second batch of Titans heading into
battle expecting one set of villains and getting another. Flamesplasher doused Speedy with
a concussive blast of water fired from a nozzle on his RIGHT wrist, Sizematic
shrank to Doll Man dimensions to evade Aqualad and Darklight exploded in a
burst of white light that blinded Mal Duncan.

The collective Titans finally got their act together at the New York Historical Society,
where each set of twins had been spotted. Having clogged the fire-wielding
Flamesplasher's nozzle with a foam arrow, Speedy followed up by using an
icicle-arrow to freeze the water-boy's spray to his twin's arm. The force
building up in the watery Flamesplasher's jammed arm unit sent him into a
virtual seizure that shook both him and his captive brother through a display window.

Meanwhile, Mal used a slingshot to throw the tiny Sizematic into the chin of his big
brother and Kid Flash tricked the Darklight doubles into fighting themselves while Wonder
Girl stood back and watched("They pulled this stunt on ME -- so I'm returning
the favor."). -- TEEN TITANS # 47(by the twin Bobs -- Rozakis and Brown --
and inker Tex Blaisdell)

Elsewhere, The Joker's Daughter and Robin had found the mastermind behind the crimes --
or rather, he had found them. Two-Face -- the alleged father of Duela (Joker's Daughter)
Dent -- had orchestrated the thefts of the antiquities and their doubles as
part of a figurative coin flip that he intended to be the ultimate arbiter of
whether he should be good or evil.

At 2:22 PM Eastern Standard Time, NYC and Gotham would be struck with nuclear missiles.
"Half the loot is stashed in New York, the other half in Gotham. Thus -- when my
bombs blow up both cities, if more originals survive the blast, I'll become
an honest citizen. If it's the phony duplicates, I'll devote my life to
crime." No wonder Two-Face was in Arkham Asylum.

Suffice it to say, the pair of Titans escaped, each nuclear strike was averted by a
team of teen heroes and Two-Face was captured (TT # 48, by Rozakis, Jose Delbo and Vince
Colletta). Left unexplained was the "mental link" between Two-Face and his
"daughter." One might speculate that the Darklights were low-level psionics
(Hinted by the first Darklight's comment that she could "cloud your minds --
as well as your bodies") and that they were, perhaps inadvertantly, leaking
details of the crimes to Duela Dent. Given the uncharacteristically
amateurish performance of the Titans' founders, one might also argue that
they were mentally inhibiting the heroes as well.

The twin bandits languished in prison until late in the spring of 1978 when each of
the male sets returned. The Flamesplashers struck at the Gabriel's Horn discotheque,
headquarters of the now-disbanded Teen Titans. Mal Duncan (as the Guardian)
held his own until the fiery member of the twosome pointed his nozzle at the
head of Mal's fiancee Karen Beecher. The watery Flamesplasher demanded that
the Guardian help them commit a new series of robberies or forfeit Karen's life.

As the rogue escorted Mal outside, they came face-to-face with Jimmy Olsen and the
Newsboy Legion, who'd hoped to find information on Jim Harper, the original Guardian. While
the Newsboys tackled one of the twins outside -- "Hey, Soggy! DRY UP!" --
Jimmy surprised the other inside the disco and freed Karen (SUPERMAN FAMILY #
191, by Tom DeFalco, Kurt Schaffenberger and Tex Blaisdell).

Elsewhere, the Sizematic Twins had been recruited by the Secret Society of Super-Villains
as part of the Silver Ghost's plan to destroy the Freedom Fighters (SSOSV # 15, by
Rozakis, Mike Vosburg and Bob Smith). In the never-published SSOSV # 16 and
17 (whose contents saw print only in an in-house set of xeroxes called
CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE), the Freedom Fighters' forces were split and Uncle
Sam and Doll Man faced Copperhead and Sizematic alone in Sun City, Florida.

Doll Man imagined that he could outwit the giant Sizematic by shrinking but he reckoned
without the existence of the villain's tiny twin, who handed him a solid punch. In the
end, the six-inch Freedom Fighter was no match for the duo. The entire Secret
Society, writer Bob Rozakis assures us, was finally defeated by the FF before
the heroes left Earth-One for their native Earth-X.

HellstoneMember

posted October 23, 2000 03:07 PM

Thanks, Miki. You said you would be busy these days, but it doesn't show.
How's your grandmother?

Tenz, I'll keep in touch with you via e-mail regarding the bios to the guide. As soon as
I find some extra time.

Taz, I can't give you all the bios of the original thread, but this is the list of the
ones covered. Tell me if there's someone in partucular that you want, and I can consult my
printed version.

And of course, #139 - Doctor Davis - has already been answered by the Mighty
Mikishawm. Sorry for that error, too.

/ola

HellstoneMember

posted October 24, 2000 01:28 PM

Got some extra time today, so I'll make an attempt to cover two of the characters
listed. I'm sure Mikishawm can and will tell you more, though.

149. JOSHUA
A young masked man who first appeared in TEEN TITANS (1st series) #20 (Mar-Apr 69)
by invading the Titans Lair and asking the Titans for help to stop a
confrontation between the police and a group of teenaged protestors. (This
was the funky seventies, remember?) After a few misunderstandings, the Titans
learned that the protestors were actually (and unknowingly) backed by a
criminal organization, who in turn were the pawns of the sinister aliens of
Dimension X (recurring foes of the original Titans that first appeared in
TEEN TITANS (1st series) #16 (Jul-Aug 68). The Titans collaborated with Joshua and
his brother (the leader of the protestors) to thwart the aliens' plan to
release the monstrous entity called the Meroul Being. Joshua was thanked and
praised for his help, but to my knowledge he has not been seen since. People
asked for Joshua's entry in the original Who's Who series, but he never got one.

An interesting note about this adventure (written by Neal Adams and illustrated
by Adams with Sal Amendola and Nick Cardy) is that it was based on an earlier, unpublished
story by Len Wein and Marv Wolfman. In the original version, the young hero
was black and he was not called Joshua but - Jericho, a name Wolfman re-used
fifteen years later, in TALES OF THE TEEN TITANS #44 (Jul 84).

150. SWASHBUCKLER
Michael Carter, a vigilante active in the Houston area, that appeared in
DETECTIVE COMICS #493 (Aug 80). He worked with Batman to capture the Riddler.
The Swasbuckler is in fact the nephew of the original Vigilante, the
"cowboy" crimefighter from the 1940s. Swashbuckler is a superb hand-to-hand
combatant, uses a fighting stick and rides a motorcycle. He, too, has only appeared once
to my knowledge. Geoff Johns said that he wanted to do something with him in STARS &
S.T.R.I.P.E., but since that title was cancelled, thos plans are probably
gone for the foreseeable future. (His one adventure was written by Cary Burket, with art
by Don Newton and Dan Adkins.)

"Swashbuckler" was also a one-time alias for Oliver Queen in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
(1st series) #173, as one of the faked identities used by the Justice League when they put
Black Lightning to an inducting test. (Black Lightning passed his exam, but
turned down the membership offer.)

/ola

MikishawmMember

posted October 24, 2000 07:24 PM

Hellstone, thanks for the bios! Re: Joshua. Wein and Wolfman obviously remained upset by
the circumstances behind that story and I suppose they (as editor and writer of THE NEW TEEN
TITANS) didn't want to revive him because he was a reminder of the whole controversy.

Thanks for asking about my grandmother. She has her good days and bad days -- sometimes
she's in a great mood, very animated and talkative while on others she's gloomy about
the fact that her broken shoulder isn't healing as fast as she thinks it
should. She's determined, though, and that helps a lot.

I'd felt bad about my reduced output on the boards. I'm glad that you think it doesn't
show.

a2-tonNew Member

posted October 28, 2000 05:39 PM

I'm sorry the first round of this thread is gone. I missed a few bios like Croak
McGraw. Too bad you probably don"t want to recap him on here. I suppose
you could send me the info at a2-ton@ApexMail.com. However, the character I
am most interested in finding out about is Sgt. Gorilla who apparently was an
intelligent gorilla fighting the Japanese in WWII.

The VigilanteNew Member

posted November 08, 2000 08:01 PM

154. Anti-Lad was "The Legionnaire Nobody Remembered" from SUPERBOY & THE
LEGION (I believe it was #204). I remember he was from the future and came
back to apply for Legion membership to prevent a catastrophe from happening
to the LSH. After doing so, all that was left was a photo of him with the
team (he never became an actual member, but the LSH would let applicants get
photos of themselves at the team table with the members as a souvenir).

XanadudeMember

posted November 08, 2000 08:58 PM

What is the story behind Kubert's REDEEMER? I saw a GREAT article about it in AMAZING
HEROES and then, bam, never published.

MikishawmMember

posted November 11, 2000 05:27 PM

I've always had a special affection for this next character since SUPERBOY # 204
was the first Legion issue that I ever read.

Dateline: 2958: Tears welled up in Superboy's eyes. He'd been invited to join the
30th Century's Legion of Super-Heroes and, frankly, things had not gone well. The Boy of
Steel had failed three consecutive tests to join the team and he'd just been
informed that he hadn't made the cut. "Only the backwards 20th Century people
could think him a 'super-hero'" (1958's ADVENTURE COMICS # 247, by Otto
Binder and Al Plastino).

Humiliated, Superboy wondered how he could face his friends back in Smallville. As the
heroes left him there and prepared to return to the 30th Century, he pleaded with them to
"give me another chance!" It was not to be. The disappointed Legionnaires "would've
sworn Superboy was a sure bet to become our newest member. But now -- "

"Now we know he's not Legionnaire material."

It was back to the future, where a grim Cosmic Boy announced that he was opening "the
floor to other nominations for a new member. On cue, a tall young man materialized on
the round table in a burst of flame and asked, "May I make a suggestion ?"

The teenager, who called himself Anti-Lad, wore a red body suit with long
black-gray boots & gloves, crossed suspenders and shorts. The top of his hood was cut out,
exposing his bald head, and his eyes were concealed by a visor. "On the
faraway planet I come from, our sun is 1,000 times brighter than yours. The
visor amplifies Earth-light so I can see."

In a series of trials, Anti-Lad demonstrated how he came by his name, reflecting the
powers of each Legionnaire back at them. As Lightning Lad fired a bolt at him, "Anti-Lad's
uniform suddenly became insulated" and he shocked the Legionnaire with his
own electricity. Subsequently, Colossal Boy collapsed under his own weight
and Cosmic Boy found himself magnetized and stuck to the Legion headquarters.
"Ever since I can remember," Anti-Lad explained. "I've always had the uncanny
ability to change someone's strength into a weakness ... by turning his own
power against him."

With the hero on the fast track for Legion membership, his picture was taken with the
founding members and he settled into the team's guest-quarters for the night. Only Brainiac
Five had his doubts -- and he was determined to confirm his suspicions.
Anti-Lad awoke in the middle of the night to the glare of light in his face
and instinctively covered his eyes. A stern Brainy informed him that "a
person who grew up under a super-bright sun certainly wouldn't be shielding
his eyes from a mere light like this."

Analysis quickly revealed that Anti- Lad's powers were artificial, a violation of Legion
policy. The visor was an astonishingly advanced computer that "not only analyzed the
strength of each opponent (but) also instantly created the correct counter
moves to overcome them. But most surprising of all ... if I read these
circuits right, the computer recently analyzed and manufactured Kryptonite."

Once 20th Century soil particles had been detected on his boots, Anti-Lad admitted that
he'd followed the Legionnaires into the past and sabotaged the initiation of
Superboy. The moment after his confession, the would-be Legionnaire blinked
out of existence. Brainiac Five and company had no recollection of the past
day, only the overriding feeling that "we've GOT to give Superboy another
initiation test" (1974's SUPERBOY # 204, by Cary Bates and Mike Grell).

Travelling to the past once more, Saturn Girl erased Superboy's recollection of his
first meeting with the team. Clad in different costumes to avoid triggering the Boy of
Steel's memories, the Legionnaires subjected him to a second series of tests
which, once more, he appeared to flunk. This time it was all a prank and the
Legion unanimously accepted Superboy into its ranks (ADVENTURE # 247).

Years later, the Legion would find a photo of themselves and a stranger in
their archives and wonder "who WAS Anti-Lad ?" His secret was still millennia
in the future -- the 75th Century, to be exact, an era when most of Earth's
inhabitants lived in geometric structures that hovered above the polluted surface.

While using a time-scanner to research a Superboy biography, a young student
had witnessed the Legion's historically-inaccurate rejection of the Boy of Steel.
The teenager's father theorized that "this instrument is defective. Instead of
merely observing the time-stream, its scanning rays have warped it ... and
altered a portion of the past ... namely Superboy's membership in the Legion.
... He is destined to (play) such a vital role with them that the entire
course of history will be thrown out of control without him."

The boy's father resolved to alert the Science Court, of which he was a member,
but the teenager felt obligated to resolve the matter himself. He created his visor
("only a toy in our advanced age of technology") and made an unauthorized jaunt into
the time-stream via his father's timesmitter. "Father MEANS well, but by the time
he goes through the proper channels to get permission, it may be too late. A
crisis like this calls for drastic and immediate action." After a side-trip
to 20th Century Smallville to get soil samples, Anti-Lad paid a visit to the
Legion and manipulated them into believing that the Superboy test had been
fixed. Upon his departure, A-Lad's visor gave "each of them a post-hypnotic
command ... ordering them to have no memory of (him) once (he) disappeared."

Ultimately, Anti-Lad's efforts were undone. Multiple assaults on the Legion's
history wove Superboy into and out of the team's history and inevitably took their
toll on the fabric of reality. Only a last ditch effort coordinated by Cosmic Boy
(as the Time Trapper) enabled the Legion to preserve the integrity of the timestream
(1994's LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES # 61). In the history that arose in the
aftermath, the Legion of Super-Heroes still existed (LSH # 0) but the vital
role that Superboy played in those chronicles was no more.

Ironically, the 75th Century would remain a significant period in the history of
the cosmos. During that era, the ageless energy-being known as Wildfire was able to
sustain the legacy of the Legion of Super-Heroes and, in a truly historic
achievement, revived the United Planets (1996's LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ANNUAL
# 7). Anti-Lad would surely have been proud.

Tomorrow: The Redeemer!

MikishawmMember

posted November 12, 2000 01:04 PM

"The mission for which I have summoned you ... is no simple one. Not one a mere
matter of life and death ... but -- of the SOUL! It is the soul that links us
to eternity. There is born into each age one with the POTENTIAL to REDEEM
mankind of evil and suffering. Although he contains the SEED of the world's
salvation ... he himself is NOT AWARE of his power. He must PROVE himself
worthy through MANY LIFETIMES ... Only VAGUELY ... as in a dream ... can he
recall being tested in past lives ... this REDEEMER. If HE succeeds ... WE
are doomed to EVERLASTING PAIN AND SUFFERING! We must LURE him from his path
... to conquer his SOUL. The Redeemer must become one of US ... to assure our
OWN DESTINIES!" -- The Infernal One, speaking to his unholy forces in THE
REDEEMER # 1 (by Joe Kubert).

The story of the Redeemer was revealed in the pages of Fantagraphics' magazine
AMAZING HEROES # 34. The Peter Sanderson-written article clocked in at eleven pages,
complete with generous samples of writer-artist Joe Kubert's panels from the first
issue and character sketches. Kubert even drew an original cover for the 'zine.

The intention was to preview the twelve- issue maxi-series during October of
1983, the month of its release. Unfortunately, DC decided at zero hour to
postpone the title "by at least a couple months and possibly as much as half
a year." A chagrined Fantagraphics editor Kim Thompson had no choice but to
run "a preview that appears well -- and I mean WELL -- before the previewed
subject." Little did he know ...

THE REDEEMER hinged on the concept of reincarnation and featured a man named Torkan
in a succession of time periods --from the age of the caveman to the future of 2557 A.D.
In each of his lives, Torkan would be unaware that a higher power had selected
him to be the Redeemer. Time and again, he would be tempted by the forces of
the Infernal One, recalling his past only in flashes of deja vu.

The Infernal One was an ancient-looking man, bald on the top with flowing white hair
and beard. Kubert explained that he was "a wraith ... somebody who is real and yet is
not real, somebody who is timeless, somebody who is not alive and who is not
dead, a being and yet not a being." Existing in "a timeless place," he
selected his agents of evil from all time periods.

Kubert added that there were rules of a sort in the Infernal One's temptation of Torkan.
"He can't be forced to do that which is perhaps counter to what we all consider or hope is
good. It's not a matter of his being put under any kind of torture and forced
to take whatever steps he will. He can't be forced, he can't be twisted, but
he can be induced, so that it's his choice. It's a choice that we all have to
make."

The twelve-issue series was to have been composed of multiple story arcs, each set in
a separate, non-chronological time period. "When we come to the 12th issue," Kubert
concluded, "the character himself will be crystal clear, the situation
vis-a-vis himself and the Infernal One will be crystal clear, and the battle
that takes place between them will be culminated. There will be a culmination
as there will be at the end of each one of the stories. But there will never
be an end" to the eternal war between Torkan and his adversary.

Ironically, in the same time period that the first issues of THE REDEEMER should have
been on the stands, DC featured a similar character in the pages of November and
December's ACTION COMICS # 552 and 553. Therein, Marv Wolfman had revived
1960s hero Immortal Man (from STRANGE ADVENTURES # 177, 185, 190, 198). Like
Torkan, Immortal Man had been resurrected multiple times throughout the
course of history. Wolfman unwittingly made the character even more similar
to Torkan when he gave I-Man an opposite number in the form of the immortal
villain Vandal Savage. And more recently, Savage has played the same role in
Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's RESURRECTION MAN series.

Unlike I-Man and Mitchell Shelley, the Redeemer would have operated outside DC
continuity. According to Peter Sanderson, "Kubert feels that to allow DC's more
fantastic characters, including the costumed super-heroes, to intrude upon the
Redeemer's world would destroy the basic realism of the series. 'I think that would
make totally incredible the character I have here.'"

THE REDEEMER's six-month postponement came and went, but it never reached the
stands. Kubert had been unable to find the the time to complete the series
(reported in AMAZING HEROES # 39) and DC had reportedly received complaints
because of the Christian nature of the character's name. In the end, the
artwork in AMAZING HEROES # 34 may be all that anyone ever sees of the Redeemer.

MikishawmMember

posted November 12, 2000 02:35 PM

In case anyone's interested, there's another Obscure DC Character (Mr. Banjo) at this
link:http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum136/HTML/000112.html

MikishawmMember

posted November 11, 2000 12:33 PM

Here's Mister B's story:

"Here is a master criminal, an ingenious plotter of crimes -- a fiend who would snuff
out life as easily as he would blow out a candle." The legend of Mister Banjo began
with Doctor Filpots, an unseen criminal genius who'd terrorized the east
coast in the final days before the United States' entrance into World War
Two. Law enforcement officials believed they had their big break when mobster
Trigger Danny agreed to reveal all he knew about the mastermind in exchange
for a lighter sentence. In early 1942, the stoolie was gunned down in retaliation.

As surgeons fought for Danny's life on a hospital table, WHIZ Radio newscaster Billy
Batson slipped into the operating room, intent on getting the scoop on the wounded man's
condition. Instead, Batson would determine Danny's fate. The plunking notes
of a banjo heralded the arrival of a trio of gun-wielding hoods who were
sought to finish what they'd started. With one magic word, Billy transformed
himself into Captain Marvel and left the hitmen gift-wrapped for the police.

The local story was soon eclipsed by a national crisis. The United States' efforts in
World War Two were being hampered by a saboteur, someone who was routinely leaking
confidential military shipping routes to the Japanese.

Disguised by a rather obvious long white beard, Billy paid a visit to American Naval
Headquarters. There, he witnessed a verbal altercation between a French "arteest" who
wanted to see "zee commanding officer" and an oblivious secretary absorbed in
her typing. Inevitably, a strapping sailor ejected the troublemaker. Billy
followed the stranger, noting the curious detail that he was vigorously
whistling as he strolled away.

The melody was overheard by a balding, well-fed gentleman with a bulbous
nose, a tattered green three-piece suit and a porkpie hat. He rushed away,
gasping, "Gotta hurry before I forget it!" Outside a printing shop, the fat
man strummed the tune of his banjo until a man inside demanded that he "cut
the racket!" Requesting "just a few pennies for Mr. Banjo," the musician made
his exit once he'd received a coin. In turn, a transmitter within the shop
relayed the musical notes around the globe to a Japanese outpost and alerted
them to bomb a "U.S. battleship nearing Guam."

Meanwhile, Billy had confronted the Frenchman at the moment that the spy was
assassinated by the returning Mister Banjo. With his final words, the man
identified his killer and explained that "they told me --they would release
my family -- in occupied France -- if I carry their messages ..." Billy
turned to find a gun in his face. "I'M Mr. Banjo, buddy! Now it's YOUR turn!"

Calling out "Shazam," Billy changed into Captain Marvel just in time to beat Mister
Banjo's bullet. Before he could interrogate the killer, Cap was distracted by a man in
a Marvel Family uniform who'd just robbed a bank.

With "Cap" wanted for questioning, it fell to Billy to solve the case. Returning
to Naval headquarters, the newscaster found Boogey, the man who'd pretended to be Cap,
chatting with the still-typing secretary. Suddenly, everything clicked in
Billy's head and he asked an officer to detain the woman and Boogey: "She's
typing in Morse Code ... giving that man the secrets!"

"The girl learns the secrets ... and then one of the spy gang calls in here -- she
types out the message in code on her typewriter -- that's how all the messages leak out.
... After they get the code down pat, the man walks along the street
whistling it ... and then Mr. Banjo picks it up and plays it to some more
spies. By this method, it's carried halfway around the world."

Captain Marvel nabbed the conspirators at the print shop and trailed Boogey to a
ship in the city's harbor. There, he smashed Mister Banjo's instrument over his head
and tossed the unconscious musical murderer into the ocean. Boogey revealed that "Mr.
Banjo is really old Filpots -- that business of killin' Trigger Danny was
just a stall to cover his other activities. HE'S the real head of the
international spy ring -- he's been in cahoots with them orientals for years."

"OHO! Then instead of getting rid of ONE killer -- I got rid of TWO!" (CAPTAIN MARVEL
ADVENTURES # 8, illustrated by C.C. Beck) Cap's tough talk for Boogey's benefit
notwithstanding, the World's Mightiest Mortal presumably returned to fetch
Mister Banjo out of the drink. The spymaster was, alas, long gone.

The Japanese assault on U.S. forces and Captain Marvel in particular continued when
the evil Nippo came on the scene in CMA # 9. Within moments of his capture, Station WHIZ
had received an encoded message. His hair standing on end, Billy told station
manager Sterling Morris that "it's our Captain Marvel code! And it's signed Mr. Banjo!"

Or, for those of you who left your Captain Marvel Code Cards in your other pants: "You
thought I'd been finished off, didn't you ? Wait till I get hold of you next month!"

And sure enough, Mister Banjo returned in the final story in CMA # 10 (with art by Pete
Costanza). The nation had been stunned by President Roosevelt's decision to recall the
entire naval fleet from the Pacific. Fearing that the outcome of the war was
in jeopardy, Captain Marvel flew to the White House and offered to
single-handedly take over for the Navy. "I'll thank you to mind your own
affairs, Capt. Marvel!" FDR snapped. "I'll manage to run the country. Good day!"

As he left the Oval Office, Cap realized that he'd just spoken to an imposter
but, before he could act on the knowledge, the floor opened beneath him and
he fell into a sub-basement. There, he faced Mister Banjo and his gang, who'd
arranged a death trap, a heavy-duty compression elevator designed to crush
Big Red Cheeses. By the time, he'd muscled his way to freedom, Cap had lost the villains.

A tip led Billy to the secluded Templar Mansion, where he was immediately captured by
Mister Banjo and company. After his failure in the previous outing, the saboteur was now
being watch-dogged by a beautiful Axis spy named Mata. She was mystified by
Banjo's interest in Billy but the fat man knew there was a connection between
him and Captain Marvel. Though he'd witnessed Billy's earlier transformation,
the villain couldn't remember it because of the magic inherent in the lightning bolt.

When Batson refused to reveal his secrets, he was flung from the mansion via an ancient
catapult. A bolt of lightning pierced the sky and one of the gunmen shrieked, "The kid's
exploded!" Captain Marvel began a swift mop-up operation even as the
ringleaders fled. Speeding away in a motorboat, Mata shouted to her
collaborator that "you're through, Mr. Banjo. The cause no longer needs you."

With Cap's hands around his throat, Banjo pleaded, "Don't hit me -- I'll talk, I'll
tell everything!" A heavy hook near the mansion's ceiling made a convenient holding
device for the villain, who shrieked in terror as disturbed bats swirled around him.
Captain Marvel concluded the case by freeing the President, who confirmed
that "these rattlesnakes meant to kill me in cold blood."

Scheduled to be tried for war crimes, Mister Banjo escaped from prison in 1943 to
participate in Mister Mind's Monster Society of Evil. Though present in Captain Marvel's
first skirmish with the league of villains (CMA # 22), Mister Banjo failed to
return in any of the subsequent battles. His fate --and the role he was meant
to play in the Monster Society -- have never come to light.

Still, his four panel appearance in CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES # 22 was enough
to include Banjo in the Monster Society roster in 1986's WHO'S WHO # 15.
Because of that, he was remembered in cameos in 1996's KINGDOM COME # 3 (page
7 panel 2, mostly hidden by a word balloon) and the recent WORLD'S FUNNIEST.
As immortality goes, it's not much but it's more than most 1940s villains can claim.

MikishawmMember

posted November 12, 2000 02:37 PM

... and a look at Alan Scott's adventures in radio at:http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum18/HTML/003585.html

MikishawmMember

posted November 12, 2000 12:58 PM

In his first appearance (1940's ALL-AMERICAN # 16, by Bill Finger and Martin
Nodell), Alan Scott was a construction engineer in charge of building
structures such as bridges. As the story opened, Alan was riding a train on a
test run to gauge the effectiveness of "a newly-constructed trestle bridge."
Alan's company had underbid a rival engineer, Albert Dekker, who planted
explosives along the track with the intention of killing Scott and all aboard.

Alan survived only because of the train's green lantern that he'd been holding at the
moment of impact. The young engineer collapsed into unconsciousness as the magic
lantern filled his mind with its story.

It had arrived on Earth hundreds of years past in China as a glowing green meteor,
proclaiming that "three times shall I flame green! First - to bring death! Second - to
bring life! Third - to bring power!" A sorcerer named Chang retrieved the meteor,
whose arrival had been prophesied, and forged it into a lamp. Fearing that
Chang's actions would anger the gods, the villagers murdered the lamp maker
and, in so doing, fulfilled the Green Flame's first prophesy.

Millennia ago, the Guardians of the Universe had "gathered the mystic force loose in the
starways" and "locked it in the heart of a star, there to remain forever"
(1978's GREEN LANTERN # 111). Unknown to the Guardians, the magic energy had
become sentient and, as the Green Flame of Life, it siphoned off a small
portion of its energy to serve as a force for good (GL # 112).

The Green Flame's fate eventually intersected with Yalan Gur, a dragon-like member of the
Green Lantern Corps who was assigned to Earth's space sector. As a favored son of
the Guardians, the beings of Oa decided to remove his emerald ring's weakness
to yellow. Yalan Gur quickly became corrupted by power and attempted to
dominate the people of China. The Chinese people rose up against their
oppressor and the Guardians secretly aided them. They altered "the
composition of (Yalan Gur's) power-battery and ring. They make him vulnerable
to wood. Vulnerable to the sticks of peasants, the humblest of all weapons."

The angry Green Lantern flew out of Earth's atmosphere cursing the Guardians and then,
losing consciousness from his wounds, fell back to the planet's surface. "He burns
on reentry" (1991's GREEN LANTERN # 19). Simultaneously, the chunk of the
Starheart found Yalan Gur and "merged with the dying hero, granting him
absolution if not resurrection" (1993's GREEN LANTERN CORPS QUARTERLY # 7).

(The GL # 19 story completely ignored the Starheart explanation, identifying the meteor
as Yalan Gur's molten lantern and the voice of the Green Flame as Yalan Gur himself. The GLC
story reconciled the two stories.)

After Chang's demise, "the lamp passed through many hands in its travels. Curiously,
however, to the bad, it brought destruction ... to the good ... luck and fortune."
According to 1987's SECRET ORIGINS # 18, the lamp was eventually discovered
by Milton Caniff's Terry Lee and Pat Ryan (or their DCU equivalents, Spike
Spalding and Ryan Patrick) during the mid-1930s and ended up in Gotham's
Arkham Asylum. There, it cured the madness of an inmate named Billings,
giving him a second lease on life.

Alan Scott would be the recipient of the lamp's third gift -- power! Fashioning a ring
to channel the lantern's power, Alan used it appear as an emerald phantom. He phased through
the wall of Dekker's quarters like a wraith ("I have the power of going
through the Fourth Dimension") and was capable of deflecting bullets and knives
when he was solid. After a wooden club dazed him, Alan jumped to the
conclusion that "I'm only immune to metals."

In AAC # 17, Alan (as the Green Lantern) continued to walk through walls and
deflect bullets. He also used the ring to create a wall of emerald force and
melt steel. Once again, wood felled the hero. GL's ability to make himself
intangible, as well as the other attributes, were present in nearly every
episode of the strip for at least its first few years.

Later in 1940, APEX radio announcer Jim Tellum was "machine-gunned to death" on
the streets of Gotham (AAC # 20). Determined to avenge the deaths of Tellum and,
subsequently, his wife, Alan considered the dead man's profession. "I'm a radio engineer.
If I could get a job at APEX, I might be able to get some helpful clues on this
case ... And come to think of it, working for a radio broadcasting system
would be a great help to me in ALL my activities as the Green Lantern. I'd
get all the news reports first hand."

Alan spoke to APEX's assistant manager, Mister Gates, who admitted that there were no
job openings but that his application would be kept on file. On his way out, Alan ran into
Irene Miller, a young woman he'd met a few months back at the World's Fair
(AAC # 18). Irene worked at the station and was as determined as Alan to find
the killer of the Tellums. In the end, the true murderer was revealed as
Gates. Alan's own role is saving Irene's life during the adventure did not go
unnoticed by the station manager. Irene informed her rescuer that "a job is
due you as compensation for the risk you took with me."

(And, yes, Alan WASN'T a radio engineer, despite what he said in AAC # 20. On the
other hand, he wasn't hired as a radio personality. Instead, he was given a position
that utilized the electronics knowledge he'd gained in construction.)

Initially, Alan worked on the technical end of things at APEX. After an
announcer fell ill at the radio station, Alan jumped n to cover him. The Apex
president thanked him, commenting that "your speaking voice,
incidentally, turned out to be surprisingly good...good enough to go on the
air! Therefore, I'm going to let you handle the interviewing on the 'man on
the street' program!!" (1941's GREEN LANTERN # 2).

Upon his discharge from the army, Alan seemed to drift from station to station
(such as WXK in GL # 10 and WCMG in GL # 12), occasionally identified as a trouble
shooter. That all changed in GL # 20 (1946).

Therein, Charles "Doiby" Dickles related a flashback in which WXYZ Radio's
jack-of-all-trades Alan Scott was informed by manager Mr. MacGillicuddy that he was
"trying to do too many jobs at once...You're a good sound engineer -- stick to
that!" Soon after, Alan was fired when he was framed in a scam involving
a gang that used radios as listening posts.

A climactic fight between GL and the thugs wrecked the WXYZ studio. Alan arrived,
repaired the equipment, wrote copy for a news program and worked in the sound booth and as
emcee on a new variety show. MacGillicuddy not only rehired Alan but declared
him "too valuable to lose. From now on, you can hold every job in the
place if you want to! You can do anything you want around here -- because you
can do anything! Hear that ? Any job you want!" In the final panel,
Doiby walked into the office of the new general manager of WXYZ -- Alan Scott!

And he was still in charge in 1965, when Alan met his Silver Age counterpart in
GREEN LANTERN (second series) # 40. Typically, the name of the station had changed yet
again. Now (and forevermore) it was the Gotham Broadcasting Company. In
post-Crisis history, the GBC name was in place as early as the 1950s (1990's
SECRET ORIGINS # 50). By the time Batman came on the scene in the late 1980s,
Alan had additional stations in New York and California that kept him from
his home town for long stretches of time (2000's BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS # 10).

Alan eventually paid the price for his neglect of the cornerstone of his empire.
Half a million in debt (1976's ALL-STAR COMICS # 64), Alan lost control of Gotham
Broadcasting. Despondent over the end of his life's work, Green Lantern fell prey to
the Psycho-Pirate (ASC # 65) and went on a rampage (ASC # 66) with other members
of the JSA until Wildcat broke the spell (ASC # 68). Relocating to Keystone
City (1978's GREEN LANTERN # 108), a humbled Alan Scott accepted a position
as Jay Garrick's research assistant (revealed in 1985's INFINITY, INC. ANNUAL # 1).

Soon after, Alan was confronted by Lo-Lanke, the immortal wife of Chang. She revealed
that his "servants perished at the first flame of the green fire, but he survived."
Chang retained a small piece of the meteor and "it preserved him through the
centuries, feeding his life with its super-natural energies." When Alan's
will power was diminished after his loss of GBC and he committed acts of evil
when manipulated by the Psycho-Pirate, he unwittingly enabled Chang to bend
his "power stone" to his will. In a final battle with Green Lantern, Chang
perished when a huge tree fell on him. Lo-Lanke had never told her master that
the emerald energy didn't work against wood (1978's GREEN LANTERN # 108-110).

In time, Alan decided to get back into the broadcasting game and formed a partnership
with old friend Molly Maynne to purchase TV-18 and radio station KGLX in Los Angeles. The
professional relationship soon became a personal one when Alan and Molly were wed
(INFINITY, INC. ANNUAL # 1). The honeymoon period of the marriage came to an
abrupt end when Green Lantern and most of the other older members of the Justice Society
were cast into a timeless limbo (1986's LAST DAYS OF THE JUSTICE SOCIETY SPECIAL # 1).

TV-18 thrived under Molly's guidance and, by the time the JSA was freed from limbo (1992's
ARMAGEDDON: INFERNO # 4), Alan Scott was able to reaquire Gotham Broadcasting
(suggested by 1992's JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA # 2).

For a time confusion reigned at DC regarding Alan's business. Despite Alan Scott's
statement in the 1993 NEWSTIME facsimile that he hadn't "been affiliated with the
Gotham Broadcasting Company for quite a few years," the return of GBC to
Green Lantern's life had to be acknowledged. While the 1992-93 JSA series had
Alan at GBC, the simultaneously running GL strip in GREEN LANTERN CORPS
QUARTERLY continued to refer to TV-18.

The Scotts moved from Los Angeles to Gotham sometime between 1993's GREEN LANTERN CORPS
QUARTERLY # 7 and 1995's UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED: HELL'S SENTINEL # 1. In the aftermath of the
Gotham quake, they relocated to Manhattan (1999's GREEN LANTERN SECRET FILES
# 2). 1999's GREEN LANTERN # 110 stated that Alan "moved what could be
salvaged from his Gotham Broadcasting Company building into storage."
Today, GBC is known as Scott Telecommunications (GL SECRET FILES # 2).

Commander SteelMember

posted November 12, 2000 01:08 PM

O.K., on the matter of Alan Scott's career development, a little research through some
back issues shows that character development is not a concept limited to modern comics.
Alan Scott was given a steady career development over the years, sometimes by accident,
sometimes deliberate.

ALL-AMERICAN COMICS # 16 (July '40) heralded the debut of the original Green Lantern.
In this story, Alan Scott is stated to be an engineer. From the train motif,
it is a logical assumption that he is a structural engineer.

Four issues later, in ALL-AMERICAN COMICS # 20 (Oct. '40), he is hired by the
Apex Broadcasting Company, based in Capitol City, as a radio engineer. This is obviously
a different sort of engineer, and no mention is made of how this is at odds with the
previous engineering position he held; but it marks the start of Scott's climb up the
ladder in the broadcast industry.

I regret to report that my memory (and my comic collexion) is spotty on his next career
jump; but somewhere around ALL-AMERICAN COMICS # 35 (Feb. '42), Scott has moved to
Gotham City and become a radio announcer for radio station WXYZ, owned by the
Gotham Broadcasting Company.

In GREEN LANTERN (original series) # 20 (Summer, 1946), the reader sees Alan Scott
given a promotion to general manager of station WXYZ.

It wasn't until the Silver Age, in GREEN LANTERN (second series) # 40 (Oct. '65),
that the reader learns that Alan Scott finally got the big office on the top
floor, as president of the Gotham Broadcasting Company, which now includes
television, as well as radio.

When ALL-STAR COMICS was revived in 1976, it is revealed that Gotham Broadcasting
is on the verge of bankruptcy. This is due to the Psycho-Pirate's subtle manipulations of
Alan Scott's emotional stability, leading him to make poor business decisions.
The stockholders fire Scott, but he bounces back and takes a job as an
engineer (again, it is vague as to what field of engineering) at Garrick
Laboratories--as shown in a FLASH Special and issues of ALL-STAR in 1978.

In the '80's, Scott negotiated a business deal to establish a communications enterprise
in Los Angeles (INFINITY INC ANNUAL # 1), and brought Molly Mayne on board
as a partner. Soon after, he married Miss Mayne. During the period when he was in Ragnarok,
Molly ran the company, until Scott returned, upon which he took over as its director.

HellstoneMember

posted November 14, 2000 02:52 PM

Thank you for the story of the Redeemer, another unpublished hero that I've never heard
of before. This thread is always educating.

Okay, 154. (Anti-Lad) and 158. (Redeemer) have been answered by the Mighty One.

Still unanswered are
135. The Duke of Deception
152. the Inferior Five
156. Outlaw
157. El Diablo

I could attempt to answer the Inferior Five, but I know I'd be outclassed by Mikishawm.
Instead, I'll put some more pressure on him, adding five more names to the list.

I hope you don't feel like Sisyphos, Miki. But you know that nobody here wants this
thread to die. Ever.

And as I've said before, the right to answer questions is not exclusively Mikishawm's.
Feel free to join in, boys and girls.

/ola

taz_19632000Member

posted November 14, 2000 03:50 PM

Hey Miki,

Just wondering what do you have on the old Fawcett characters like Ibis, MinuteMan,
and Bulletman & Bulletgirl?

How about some bios of them?

Dave the Wonder BoyMember

posted November 14, 2000 06:19 PM

Originally posted by Bgztl:

How about Kong the Untamed? (1970's character. I remember seeing the comic
once but what was it? Was it any good?)

Nice Wrightson cover on the first issue, the interior story was OK but unspectacular.
That was about the same time as Kubert's TOR, the first appearance of WARLORD, CLAW, JUSTICE
INC, BEOWULF, STALKER and a few others. With the exception of WARLORD, which I loved, the
rest were OK for a few issues but unspectacular. But it was still good to see some new and
different characters, and with WARLORD we got one great series out of the bunch.

I would have liked to see a few more issues of Kirby's ATLAS (1ST ISSUE SPECIAL #1)

taz_19632000Member

posted November 17, 2000 12:41 AM

How about some little known characters from the SUPER FRIENDS comic: The Elementals.

MikishawmMember

posted November 18, 2000 07:29 PM

On a June morning in 1978, four enormous jewels were sighted in and around the United
States -- a ruby near the Gotham City Police Station, an emerald atop
Metropolis' Galaxy Building, a diamond outside New York City's United Nations
and a sapphire on a beach near Aquaman's sanctuary.

As each location's resident super-hero stepped forward to investigate, the gems opened
to reveal strange beings. Superman, for instance, found a hooded man in brown calling
himself "the Gnome -- master of Earth." The Gnome possessed super-strength,
magnetic powers, the ability to phase through solid matter and, most
significantly in this case, the gift of transmutation --which he used to
convert the emerald into Kryptonite.

Elsewhere, Aquaman was facing a woman in a blue/green scaled costume who called herself
the Undine and possessed total command of any water body. Learning that the Sea King
would not be harmed by a crushing wave of water, the Undine caused the ocean
to recede from his presence instead. Aquaman's invocation of Proteus' name
led the water elemental to transform herself into a gorilla. "Like many other
sea deities, I share his shape-shifting abilities."

In New York, Wonder Woman clashed with a blonde woman in light blue known as the Sylph.
In addition to the power of flight and control of the wind, she also commanded lightning and
could become "as intangible as air."

And finally, in Gotham, Batman was menaced by the fire-wielding female in a scaled red
costume. Though hampered by a costume that blocked her power ("That stupid Overlord!
He has given me a fire-proof costume which my flame cannot penetrate!"), she
managed to hold the Dark Knight at bay with unrelenting bursts of fire
emitted from her eyes and mouth.

Rushing to the rescue were Robin, Wondertwins Zan and Jayna and their alien monkey Gleek.
The Salamander was doused by Zan (in the form of a wave), the Gnome was rendered
unconscious by Robin's gas pellets and the Sylph was hypnotized by Jayna (in
the guise of an Exorian bird known as the Thrib). Elsewhere, Gleek distracted
the Undine with his elastic tail while Aquaman summoned help from the
creatures of the sea. The water elemental picked up the telepathic command herself and
immediately called a truce. "I read your thoughts -- enough to detect the way I had been
deceived -- when told you were a villain."

The four elementals were brought to Gotham's Hall of Justice, where Batman recognized
them as four members of the nouveau riche whom he and fellow millionaire Sandor Fane had
played host to the previous evening. The Gnome, brown-haired token male in
the group was Arden Chemicals' founder Grant Arden ("I've lost track of your
patents," joked Bruce), the blonde Sylph was singer-songwriter Jeannine Gale
(whose "Bright Day" release had just become her sixth gold record), the
red-headed Undine was author Crystal Marr (with four best-sellers --
including the new "Ice In August" -- to her credit and another, "Requiem For
A Fallen Sparrow," on the horizon) and the raven-tressed Salamander was "the
nation's leading couturiere" Ginger O'Shea (owner of the Gotham-based Chez
O'Shea, first mentioned in SUPER FRIENDS # 6).

After Bruce had said his goodbyes and left the table, the conversation turned to
Fane's recent discovery of a manuscript believed to have been written by 16th Century
alchemist Paracelsus. "In those days, it was believed that there were only
four elements -- earth, water, air and fire. Paracelsus wrote of spirits
which inhabited these elements -- gnomes in the earth, undines in the water,
sylphs in the air and salamanders in the fire." In Fane's newly-exhumed
document, the alchemist "claimed he had found ways of summoning elemental spirits!"

Fane offered to demonstrate the technique for the quartet, who unwittingly found
themselves serving as hosts for four elementals. Those beings picked up the story before
the assembled Justice Leaguers. "We are elemental spirits who now co-habit
the bodies of four humans. We were given these forms by one called Overlord,
who told us you were evil-doers we should destroy. We know little of your
human affairs in our realm. We believed him. And thus we came near to losing
our chances to gain souls."

"We live 300 years ... then Sylphs turn into mist -- Undines into foam -- Gnomes
into dust -- and Salamanders into ash. You see, there are ways for elementals to obtain
souls -- if they can first gain material bodies. Yes -- by marrying a human -- or
doing good over a long period. Thus we felt that by becoming heroes and
battling evil, we could succeed."

Released from the elementals' control, the four Gothamites were unanimous in their
anger at Sandor Fane (revealed as the Overlord) and their opposition to becoming
costumed crimefighters. Even Jeannine Gale, who'd met the League in 1977
(SUPER FRIENDS # 4) and even written a song in their honor for the annual
Justice League telethon (# 5), wanted no part of it. "We WORKED to get where
we are," Crystal pointed out. "We have the careers we WANT -- and
super-heroing is OUT!"

Superman admitted that they might not have a choice in the matter. "Those spirits can
take over your bodies any time they want" and they couldn't necessarily be exorcised.
Ultimately, the League managed to convince the quartet to accept at least a
trial period of cohabitation with the spirits in order to have their revenge
on Sandor Fane. "Look," said Grant, speaking for the group, "we won't like
it, but we can put up with these parasites -- for a while anyway."

The Elementals took ownership of their super-powered personas by junking the
impractical Overlord-created outfits in favor of four toga-style costumes of Ginger's own
design. The Salamander wore orange, the Undine green, the Sylph blue and the
Gnome black. A unifying triangle belt emblem with slight permutations appeared on each
costume. Chemist Grant Arden added that "I had to come up with fabrics our ... er ...
alter egos could wear without tearing them to pieces with their powers."

The Undine explained that Grant "made my costume mostly of water -- which he tells us
is used in many man-made fabrics. And that means it is under my control -- I can change its
shape even as I change mine. When I change identities, I can turn the costume
into Crystal's clothing. This one outfit can be used as her entire wardrobe."

"And mine is flame-proof," the Salamander added, "but porous, allowing my fire to go
through it without harming it. It's also quite elastic ... for when I use
ANOTHER of my powers."

The Gnome's "uniform is made of metallic threads, so my powers work on it. When I pass
through this stone wall, the fabric does, too -- with ease."

The Sylph's "costume also is made of a common ingredient of modern fabrics -- air!
And of course, it responds to my powers -- and becomes invisible and
intangible as air when I make Jeannine's clothing visible and tangible. You
see, I wear TWO outfits at once -- but only one at a time can be seen and felt."

And with that, the Elementals were ready to take on the Overlord. Sandor Fane, meanwhile,
was in a panic over the fact that the Elementals had revealed his true identity to the
League and were certain to track him down. Manipulated by his scheming
Underling, the Overlord opted to unleash four simultaneous element-themed preemptive strikes
and boasted to the Justice League that they would be unable to stop them.

In Texas, the Overlord had set his sights on the Wayne Petroleum Complex, a deliberate
slap at Bruce Wayne, whom he'd learned was bankrolling the Elementals. The Sylph used her
powers to unleash a blizzard on the site and stop the oil that was flooding
the complex while Robin defeated the villains who were intent on setting the fuel ablaze.

Meanwhile, Aquaman was rushing to his native Poseidonis, now threatened with flame of
a different sort -- the legendary Greek Fire that burned when it reacted with water. With
the Undine diverting the water currents away from the Atlantean city, Aquaman
dealt with the men who were pumping the fire into the sea.

In the skies above Paradise Island, Wonder Woman and the Amazons launched a desperate
attempt to save their home from a carefully-directed meteor shower. They were joined by
the fiery Salamander, who momentarily transformed into flame and
rematerialized as a giant, her costume remaining intact. Now she found it
"simple enough to burn them -- even vaporize them -- in my hands."

The Elemental most in tune with the soil of Earth found himself in the uncomfortable
position of being off-planet as he and and Superman joined forces to defend the JLA
satellite. The structure was being rocked by solar winds and only the Gnome's
magnetic powers kept it from plunging out of orbit or, alternately, into the
sun. While the Gnome literally held the fort, the Man of Steel discovered
another satellite of unknown origin that was manipulating the solar winds AND
directing the meteor shower towards Earth. "Must have cost him millions of
dollars and months of preparation," Superman thought as he drew back his
fist, "for something I can wreck with one punch!"

Elsewhere, The Batman and the Wondertwins were approaching an ancient castle that
Sandor Fane had brought to America as part of his collection of medieval artifacts.
The Dark Knight was convinced that the Overlord was using the structure as his base.
The battle ended with surprising ease. While the Wondertwins (transformed
into a triceratops and Jack Frost) defeated Fane's knights, Batman pulled the
would-be conqueror from his throne.

Lost in the confusion was the Underling, who secretly smirked that he'd been running
the show from the start. "I had the ideas -- but not the money to carry them out. That's
why I needed Fane -- and used him, while pretending to be his servant. He TRUSTED
me -- and I spent his money to build an organization -- FOR MYSELF. I've
transferred the bulk of his wealth to MY secret accounts. He's practically
penniless now. And," he concluded, placing Fane's crown on his head, "I am
the Overlord!" (SUPER FRIENDS # 15, by Bridwell, Fradon and Smith)

With their female plurality, the Elementals were a unique super-team in 1978 and,
frankly, in most years before and after. Still, despite E. Nelson Bridwell's expressed
desire to revisit the characters, the quartet never appeared again. The ongoing
saga of the Overlord (which continued in issues # 25, 39 and 43) seemed to be
heading for a climax when SUPER FRIENDS was cancelled and the Elementals
would have been logical players in the inevitable wrap-up. Evidently, though,
the reluctant super-heroes decided to pass on the opportunity to fight crime,
leaving the job to more experienced metahumans like Superman and Wonder Woman.

MikishawmMember

posted November 19, 2000 04:49 PM

And continuing in a Ramona Fradon vein ...

"Shark" Wilson was a man known for his distinctive features, among them his flat
nose, upturned lip and lantern jaw that inspired his nickname. Then, too, there was "that
long scar down his right cheek," only the most conspicuous evidence that a long
life of crime had left on his body. Appropriately for a hood named Shark, he
was brought to justice by Aquaman and sentenced to "an island prison fortress."

In mid-1954, Wilson decided that he'd had enough of the prison routine and made his escape,
laughing at the ludicrous story that the guards told about the beach, where
the sand was "believed to have magic powers that'll turn you into a fish."
Wilson got a face full of the sand when he hit the ground, then rose
unsteadily to his feet. "Must've been shaken up bad by that high jump."

By the time Aquaman arrived on the scene, Wilson had vanished. The Sea King was astonished
to find a shark swimming offshore with the same facial features as the escaped
convict. Aquaman had always scoffed at the legend of magic sands but the shark's
uncanny display of human cunning concerned him. In rapid succession, the
shark repelled several of Aquaman's sea allies. He manipulated two octopi
into tying themselves in knots, bent the nose of a swordfish and even
gathered other sharks to take on the hero.

Aquaman concluded "that shark has the brains to defeat any well-known fish ... so I'll
bring up a couple of denizens of the deep never before seen by man or shark." A group of
"monster boxing shrimp" beat off the renegade sharks while Aquaman sent a
giant blowfish against the ringleader. "As the shark attacks, the blowfish
inflates itself to three times its normal size. And at the same time, deadly
poisoned spikes project out from its body. The spikes break off like arrows,
sticking in the shark's body and poisoning it."

The mortally wounded shark thrashed about in agony and Aquaman prepared to "mercifully
destroy it before it kills anyone." The desperate creature swam towards the beach,
literally blinking out of sight before the Aquatic Avenger's eyes. On shore,
a search party found the unconscious "Shark" Wilson even as a baffled guard
insisted that he'd searched the location earlier and come up empty-handed
(ADVENTURE COMICS # 203, art by Ramona Fradon).

Aquaman never learned quite what had happened to "the shark with the human brain"
but he was destined to face more Sharks in the future. "Shark" Norton, a virtual
twin of Wilson, was later jailed by Aquaman and, when he made his escape in 1959,
attempted to evade the Sea King by committing robberies on land (ADVENTURE # 267).

Further in the future, Aquaman would meet the reversal on Wilson, a tiger shark who'd
been transformed by radiation into a man. As Karshon, the Shark was responsible for
stripping Aquaman of his Atlantean crown in 1976 (ADVENTURE # 443-444, 446-448).

Still, the events of that 1954 day lingered in his mind. "What about it ?", Aquaman
asked the reader. "Was that shark I fought simply the shrewdest shark that ever lived ?
... Or was it Shark Wilson, who returned to his normal self after the shark body
died ? What do YOU think ?"

TyphoidDaveMember

posted November 20, 2000 12:08 AM

How 'bout the Bottler?

BgztlMember

posted November 22, 2000 03:39 AM

Speaking of Ramona Fradon. . .

I thought sure someone would get to him by now and with better information than me.

But. . .

135. The Duke of Deception.

The Duke is one of Wonder Woman's earliest foes. He first appeared, I think in WONDER WOMAN
# 2 (first series) as a crony of Mars, the war god.

I think this needs some background because the Wonder Woman of the 1940's is so radically
different from the modern version. If any of you are "modern" Wonder Woman
fans only, the Golden Age atories can be sort of jarring. "Charles Moulton" (psychologist
William Marston) raided Greek and Roman mythology on only the most superficial level.

He created Wonder Woman as an Amazon (woman warriors who fought the Greeks during the
Trojan war) but then he made the Amazons pacifist.

He named Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sensuality and romantic love, as the goddess of
Love in the more platonic sense, i.e., the love of humanity.

And the foe of the Amazons -- who were the children of Ares, the Greek war god according
to some myths?

Well, Mars, the Roman god of war. In a double twist, Mars actually lives on Mars where
he rules with an iron hand and has imprisoned political prisioners (almost all scantily clad
women).

In Mouton's universe, Mars was the doppelganger for fascism and the sworn foe of Wonder
Woman, peace and democracy.

It didn't really make much sense but there it was.

On with the tale.

Mars had three henchmen: the Duke of Deception, Count Conquest and the Earl of Greed
with whom he plotted to rule the world. Each was depicted in Greco-Roman armor. The Duke's
armor was blue with orange or yellow piping. It included a crested helmet.

The Duke was skinny, short and scrawny. He looked older than Mars and the other henchmen.
In early stories he was depicted as a white-haired man with a receding hairline, an
aquiline nose, protruding chin, missing teeth and warts on his face.

In one later appearance he was depicted as thin and slight but more dapper with a
receding hairline and widow's peak but only a flash of grey at each temple.

Through his fascist proxies, Mars had started a global assault on peaceloving
people. The Duke of Deception was his most reprehensible agent.

Mars selected the Duke for his most important mission. The duke was to capture
Wonder Woman. He is prepared. He and Mars already have some plots hatched for her.

The Duke reveals a room where macabre phantasms of living people hang from a wall like
carcasses in a butcher's shop. These phantasms are like gloves that the Duke can put on.
Along the wall are the phantasms of Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito and Wonder Woman.

Slipping into the phatasm of Wonder Woman, the Duke goes forth to defeat her. But it is
he who is defeated.

Subsequently, the Duke was imprisoned by Mars and made the slave of Mars' own enchained
slaves, the women prisoners.

Turning to his greatest weapon, lies, Deception convinces the women that he planned
to be arrested for their benefit.

Eventually he leads a slave revolt, freeing the women prisoners.

Then he managed to find a way to trick Mars and Count Conquest down tino the cells
and paralyze them with electric rays. [Mars' status as a true god was never very clear from
story to story].

But the women had merely exchanged one jailer for another. They proclaimed Deception as
their new King. But it was not to last. Once again the Duke's deceptions were
inadequate to stop the triumph of good.

On another occasion, Deception used Dr. Psycho as a pawn to try to defeat Wonder Woman.
They failed again.

But the connection with Dr. Psycho was important for a different reason. Later on some of
Dr. Psycho's powers seemed to rub off on the Duke.

My first real encounter with the Duke was in WONDER WOMAN # 217. At that time, Diana was
proving herself worthy to rejoin the justice league by enduring twelve trials or
labors like the labors of Hercules.

Each of the twelve adventures was "reported" back to the league by one of the members.
In # 217, Green Arrow had his turn.

The adventure began as Oliver Queen made his way to the United Nations building in New York
City. As he followed Diana about the building, he suddenly sees an amazing sight.
Green Arrow is getting into the elevator with Diana.

The door of the elevator closes as Oliver Queen is rushing forward.

Inside the elevator, "Green Arrow" begs Diana to change into Supergirl to save some
Pacific Islanders from a volcano. Diana is having none of it. She says,
"Where do you get the idea I'm Supergirl --?"

"Green Arrow" quickly pulls out one of his rubber tipped arrows and tells Diana to shine
her heat vision on it.

Amazingly, the arrow melts as if Diana had the heat vision power. As the smoke fills the
elevator, "Green Arrow" leaps out at the next floor.

Diana changes quickly to Wonder Woman.

The real Green Arrow tells us that the phoney GA went off o change clothes. The astute
reader might suspect it was actually to change phantasms.

Regardless, a policeman appears in the hallway asserting he had just seen Green Arrow run
down the hall.

Diana quickly figures out that the occupants are all suffering from different delusions.
From there it was a sort hop onto the solution.

And sure enough she's right.

The Duke of Deception is watching her in a bowl of water used as a scrying mirror.

As Green Arrow leaps back into the Duke's illusions by re-entering the building, Diana
summons her invisible jet. Boarding her plane, the Amazon Princess uses her mental radio
to view the delusions suffered by the occupants of the U.N. building.

She also located the one mind NOT affected by the illusion, the Duke of Deception's.

His eyes blazing, the Duke claims that his powers had increased and he was no longer in
Mars' employ.

He then confronts Diana on the top floor of the U. N building.

He tricks Diana into lassoing a simulacra of himself. Then he stealthily snatches the
lasso from her hands and uses it to bind her. [Diana lost her Amazon strength back then
when she was bound by a man.]

The Duke attempted to confuse Diana further and held a sort of trial by fire for her
in the middle of a circus ring.

As Diana was about to catch him again, he materialized a number of duplicates around her.

Next he materializes as a mad doctor who has chained Diana to an operating stretcher
made of nails.

But Diana psyches him out instead.

She points out that he was clearly trying to overcompensate for no longer oworking for
Mars. His once brilliant schemes and plots had been replaced with a mad and pointless
scheme to shake Diana's confidence.

"Once a super-villain, now a has been."

As his confidence faded, the Duke's maintenance of the illusion that she was captured
failed.

Leaping up she grappled witht he Duke. He had one final trick. Like Proteus, he began
to change his form from viper, to eagle, to dragon to pig.

Then, his real plan was revealed. He wanted to make the world bow down to him so that
Mars would also have to bow to him.

Wonder Woman hauled him off to where Aphrodite could deal with him, ending the adventure.

I don't know of any subsequent appearances off hand, although I believe there were more.

Anyway, the upshot was that the Duke went from otherworldly plotter to Protean-like
mastermind. But he was still a cad.

MikishawmMember

posted November 22, 2000 06:04 AM

Thanks, Bg!

I've been holding off on the Duke until I had more time (he's made a LOT of appearances)
so I REALLY appreciated the write-up. Great work! I'll see if I can add some more this
weekend (knock on wood).

Oh, and WONDER WOMAN # 217 was where I first encountered the Duke, too!

Tenzel KimMember

posted November 23, 2000 12:51 AM

I believe I downloaded all the old files way back when so I'll check if I've deleted
them since or still have them hanging around. If I don't have the originals I might have
some revised editions being worked upon for my DC Guide, so hold off on typing in the
printed version Ola.

I'll look into it later today.

HellstoneMember

posted November 23, 2000 04:35 AM

Wow. Tenz - if you have the original thread somewhere, please post it on the
boards. Otherwise I'd have to scan my printed version or tyoe it in again. And that
would take some time....

/ola

MikishawmMember

posted November 25, 2000 07:21 PM

With apologies for repeating what Bgztl has already written (and profuse thanks to
Michael Fleisher, whose 1976 WONDER WOMAN ENCYCLOPEDIA was a godsend), here's my take on
the Duke of Deception:

During the latter half of 1942, Major Steve Trevor disappeared on a secret mission and
his "angel," an Amazon princess named Diana, feared the worst. A consultation with the
goddess Aphrodite revealed that Steve was a prisoner of Mars, God of War, in
an unearthly realm overlaid with the planet Mars. "No mortal can enter Mars's
domain except as a shackled prisoner ... Mars takes prisoner only the souls
of the dead." The goddess provided Wonder Woman with an "elixir of living
death" that would enable Diana's astral form to enter the hidden land.

Once there, Wonder Woman soon identified the war god's three lieutenants,
chronic complainers Lord Conquest and the Earl of Greed and the fawning Duke
of Deception, who kept his true opinions about Mars to himself. He also kept
the true identity of the new slave to himself, preferring to use the
inevitable conflict to his advantage.

The Duke was an elderly balding man of medium build with shrunken cheeks, warts and
shrivelled skin. Like Mars and Conquest, he wore the garb of a Roman legionnaire, complete
with a blue crested helmet and breastplate.

Once Mars was defeated by Wonder Woman, the embarrassed God of War was determined to
avenge himself but a retaliatory attack by Greed on the Amazon proved a failure. Deception
was tapped for the next assignment. As part of his plan, he would use his "false
forms, or phantasms of living people, which he animates with his astral body."

Operating behind the scenes, Deception arranged for Wonder Woman to be framed
for the murder of Naha, a Hawaiian dancer though only he knew that the victim
was a phantasm. Naha was, in fact, a slave of the Duke and captured Wonder
Woman with the intent of transporting her to Mars. Once the Amazing Amazon
had gained the upper hand, she convinced Naha to reveal her master's plans,
including the secret of the phantasms.

Elsewhere, a disguised Duke was manipulating Emperor Hirohito into launching a new attack
on Hawaii. The renewed invasion was deflected by Wonder Woman while Etta Candy
(disguised by a WW phantasm) decoyed the Duke and his forces. Once the
genuine Wonder Woman arrived, Deception was dealt a humiliating defeat. Diana
knocked him from his phantasm shell, destroyed his Martian spacecraft and
sent his astral form fleeing back to the realm of Mars in the form of a slave girl.

The God of War was not amused, ordering the Duke thrown in the dungeon even as he
summoned Lord Conquest for another go-round with the Amazon princess. The third agent
actually succeeded in bringing Diana to Mars and the jubilant warlord ordered
Deception and Greed set free while Wonder Woman was chained in their place.
Diana's captivity was short-lived and she left the realm with Mars' armory
and castle in flames. For a time, at least, the God of War would be
preoccupied (WONDER WOMAN # 2, by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter).

In 1943, reports reached Mars of the surging presence of "women in war activities."
Fearing that "if women gain power in war, they'll escape man's domination completely ...
(and) achieve a horrible independence," the God of War demanded that his unholy
trinity "go to Earth and put these upstart females in their place." The trio
balked at the prospect so Mars drafted Deception, noting "you're the one to
fool females." The Duke sought out an Earth agent named Doctor Psycho,
prodding him into the first of many battles with Wonder Woman.

In the wake of Psycho's defeat, the Duke slipped and mentioned that Mars had been no
more successful. "Deception's admiration for Wonder Woman and her sex is touching," noted
the war-god. "Take him to the women's prison and make him their slave." The Duke was
mortified but used his guile to draw the women to his side, telling them that he wanted
"to get freedom for you women leaders." The ensuing mutiny put the Duke on the throne before
an audience of adoring women while the imprisoned Mars, Conquest and Greed were forced to
flee the planet in disgrace (WW # 5, by Marston and Peter).

The Duke enlisted his daughter, the beautiful blonde Lya, to help firm up support
among the Martian women and grant him absolute power. Deception's daughter, however, was
just as duplicitous and persuasive as her father. She proclaimed that "Deception,
like all Martian men, believes women are inferior and only fit to be slaves."
When her father begged for his life, Lya agreed to make him a political
prisoner in permanent exile aboard a spacecraft. In a last minute bit of trickery,
the Duke manipulated his daughter and her disciples into coming aboard the
ship while he remained on Martian soil.

In early 1948, Wonder Woman was lured to the spacecraft, where Lya captured her and
created a phantasm of the Amazing Amazon. ("It's lucky father left this ectoplasmic
flesh-like clay in his spaceship.") As Wonder Woman, Lya attempted to steal
Earth's atomic weapons and use them when she renewed hostilities with Mars.
Instead, the genuine article escaped and rounded up the entire band of alien
women. They would be detained on Transformation Island and, with time,
reformed (COMIC CAVALCADE # 26, by Marston and Peter). The Duke had
unwittingly been spared a new uprising but the God of War was looming around the corner.

With the death of Wonder Woman's creator William Moulton Marston in 1947, Bob Kanigher
eventually assumed the writing chores on the series, still illustrated by H.G. Peter
into 1957. Regrettably, most of classic rogues gallery faded with Marston.
Indeed, virtually the only Golden Age villain to continue to be revived by
Kanigher throughout the 1950s was the Duke of Deception.

Kanigher's first treatment of the character seems to have been in 1949's WONDER WOMAN
# 34, where Mars had returned to the planet of his origin and dispatched the Duke
of Deception to eliminate the person he blamed for Earth's lack of warfare --
Wonder Woman. As a phantasm of Paula von Gunther, the Duke took control of
her "transmaterialization machine" and used it to wipe Etta Candy's Holliday
College off the face of the Earth.

Eventually, Wonder Woman traced the disappearance to the God of War and, using Aphrodite's
elixir, sent her astral form to the realm of Mars. While there, the Amazing Amazon faced
duplicates of both Etta (secretly the Duke) and Steve Trevor (a phantasm that
concealed explosives) before rescuing the Holliday Girls and their school
from its captivity in Limbo.

A vengeful Mars, Lord Conquest and Duke attempted to destroy Earth with a solar death-ray.
Bound by her own magic lasso and held by the Duke, Wonder Woman threw a pebble at her
captor's hand, breaking his grip and enabling her to stop the threat
(SENSATION COMICS # 92). In 1951, The Duke followed up with a solo mission
that sealed Washington, D.C. in a forcefield that was actually a kind of
gateway for Martian invaders (WW # 47) and, with Mars and Conquest, another
assault on Paradise Island (SENSATION # 104).

After that, the Duke of Deception seems to have cut all ties with the war-god and taken
the planet Mars as his own. Late in 1953, he posed as a Professor Dekon, using his
trademark misdirection to send Wonder Woman chasing into space after an
imaginary fleet of invaders while his own Martian forces struck Earth (WW # 63).

That plot failed but the Duke's next attempt in 1954 left Earth a wasteland. With the
aid of benevolent archaeologists from Jupiter, Wonder Woman was recovered from the
planet's surface and sent back in time to change history. Earth's fall had
begun when a box secretly containing miniaturized Martians had washed onto
the beach of Paradise Island. The enlarged invaders set foot on the land,
stripping the Amazons of their power and beginning a chain of events that
would culminate in the end of world. Forewarned, Diana opened the box in waters far
from her home and sent the fleet into the path of an undersea volcano (WW # 65).

Eventually, the Duke began to advocate the consolidation of several otherworldly armies
into a single massive invasion force. Hoping to overcome their reluctance to fight
Earth, the Duke brought Earth's finest athletes to Mars for an Olympic-style
ceremony in which they would be defeated, thereby proving the alien races
were superior. The plot backfired when Wonder Woman fought and won the
competitions on behalf of the Earthmen (1954's WW # 66). A second attempt to
defeat Wonder Woman herself before an audience of prospective invaders of
Earth met with similar failure (1956's WW # 84). He finally made a second
failed attempt to lure Wonder Woman off-planet while the Martians attacked
(1957's WW # 88). The Duke's joint Mars-Pluto-Saturn armada wouldn't come to
fruition until late 1958 (WW # 104).

When he wasn't drumming up support for an invasion force, the Duke was trying out
super-weapons. A "brain-wave deceiver"rendered Wonder Woman incapable of distinguishing
between fantasy and reality (1956's WW # 81) while "shrinking rays" got the jump on Brainiac
by miniaturizing Skyscraper City (1957's WW # 93) and a "gigantic
inter-stellar cannon" keyed in on Wonder Woman's invisible jet and threatened
the Amazing Amazon (1957's WW # 94).

By the late 1950s, the Duke had received a make-over along with the rest of the Wonder
Woman cast, the result of the new art team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. With no visual
references to work from, I can't say precisely when the transformation occurred but the
Silver Age Duke had abandoned his Roman garb altogether. He now work an orange and black
costume and hood and, characteristic of a master of illusion, the color of his skin changed
from yellow (WW # 104) back to pink (# 140) and then to green (WW # 148, 153).

In the five years that passed between the Duke's appearances in WW # 104 and 140, the
Wonder Woman series had begun its slide into the non-canonical world of "Impossible
Stories." On a semi-regular basis, the Amazing Amazon now joined forces with
her teenaged and infant personas in Amazon home movies depicting events that
would otherwise be, well, impossible.

The environment was an entirely appropriate one for the Duke, who menaced the Wonder
Family in # 140 (1963), directed his Martian armada at Paradise behind the scenes in # 152
and replaced Wonder Girl's face with a Harvey Dent-like visage using Martian
transplant technology he claimed to have used to create Medusa and Mister
Hyde (1965's WW # 153). Not to worry, though. The Wonder Family recovered the
teenager's true face in the wreckage of the Duke's spacecraft and "our Amazon
scientists will be able to graft it back on." Suffering Sappho!

The only honest-to-goodness, Earth-One, no-Wonder-Family-here clash between Wonder Woman
and the Duke of Deception in that period occurred in 1964's WW # 148.
Herein, "the imperator of illusions" had been so desperate to achieve victory
over Wonder Woman that he'd been subconsciously projecting mirages of a
captured Wonder Woman and cheering Martian followers to himself on the
desolate surface of the red planet. With his sanity on the line, "the master
of matter" redoubled his efforts to defeat his foe. The Amazing Amazon was
subjected to an onslaught of threats, most illusory but with enough real ones
thrown in to keep her off guard.

Once Diana had been convinced that all of the threats were illusions and stopped
fighting them, the Duke sent in a giant serpent to capture Wonder Woman and bring her to
Mars. Before an audience of increasingly skeptical Martians on the red
planet, the Duke of Deception ordered Wonder Woman to compete against his
followers in the Olympics of the Doomed. The twist: she had to win every match
from within a small cage AND she had to exit the inescapable cell and place
the Duke within. Despite the odds, the Amazing Amazon won every bout.

Holding the cell above a deep pool of water, the Duke explained that "all you have
to do to win the game, Amazon -- is escape from your cage -- and the embrace of that sea
creature -- after I drop you to the bottom of that pool." When the cage was
pulled back to the surface, the impossible seemed to have happened. It was
empty! As the audience began to snicker, the Duke transformed his finger into
the key to the cage, insisting to his followers that "only I could have
opened the door for her! Only I! Only I! It was impossible for her to
escape!" As he climbed into the cage, the door slammed behind him. Wonder Woman
had been inside all along, disguising her presence with (I guess) Amazon magic.

As per Martian custom, the victor of the Olympics was free to go. The loser,
however, found himself unable to exit the cage that he'd created. "That's YOUR problem,
Duke," laughed Diana. "And while you're imprisoned in your own cell -- better think about
reforming -- before you get into worse trouble!"

The Impossible Stories and the Duke himself were kicked out of the series in
# 158 to pave the way for an ill-advised experiment that attempted to replicate the
look of the Golden Age strip (# 159-165). Mars, unseen since 1950's SENSATION # 104,
reappeared in # 159 and 160. Once the focus shifted back to Earth-One, Mars
showed up once more (# 169) while a Martian invasion story (rewritten from WW
# 65's Duke of Deception episode) appeared in # 173 minus the original ringleader.

Outside of a reprint of his appearance in WW # 5's Doctor Psycho story (reprinted in
Ms. Books' 1972 WONDER WOMAN hardback), the Duke failed to reemerge until 1975's WW # 217.
Scripted by Elliot S. Maggin and illustrated by Dick Dillin and Vince
Colletta, it was well worth the wait.

At the time, Wonder Woman had been undergoing self-imposed monitoring by the members
of the Justice League to determine whether she still had what it took to be part of the
team. Green Arrow was observing Diana Prince when her United Nations
workplace erupted into chaos. Everyone --including GA himself -- suddenly
began seeing their own personal illusions. Wonder Woman quickly realized who
was at the center of the crisis and used her mental radio to isolate her foe's mind.

"The Duke of Deception, at your service, dear Princess Diana." Though clad in a tuxedo
rather than Roman garments and in possession of a full (if graying) head of hair, the
baggy-eyed Duke once again bore a resemblance to his original incarnation. "I
have not had an altercation with you for many years. When first we met, I was in the employ
of Mars, the war-god. But since I've been on my own, my powers have increased."

In the unavoidable conflict, Wonder Woman lost her lasso to the Duke, who wasted no
time in wrapping it around her wrists and giving it the appearance of chains. "And you
need not be reminded that when you are shackled by a man you lose your Amazon strength."

The battle came down to a battle of wills, with Diana taunting the Duke with the fact
that "you failed as the top aide to the God of War ... and now you want to compensate. ...
Is it drivel that you've changed from a self-assured, logical plotter to a
less-than-sane Mad Hatter shuffling people through a patternless tea party
... once a super-villain -- now a bitter, old HAS-BEEN -- ?"

"No ... no! -- NO! Don't make me unsure of myself ... I can't concentrate when you confuse
me like that -- !"

The tide had turned and Wonder Woman, her bonds now dissolved, encircled the Duke in
her lasso of truth and demanded to learn his goal. "I planned by driving the United
nations delegates mad ... to make myself their master. I'd plunge the entire
world into WAR ... and make Mars, the war-god, bow to ME ... as Mars once
made ME bow to HIM." Disgusted, Diana took her captive "to a place where
Aphrodite can deal with you."

Late in 1976, DC embarked on a second, more successful flashback to the Golden Age in
WONDER WOMAN (# 228-243) to reflect the World War Two time period of the Lynda Carter
television show. Late 1977's WW # 239 and 240 (by Gerry Conway, Jose Delbo
and Vince Colletta & Joe Giella) brought the Duke into play.

The story was set in June of 1942, shortly before the Amazon Princess had met
Mars' underlings -- not that she'd have recognized him anyway. This Duke of
Deception was a tall, youthful handsome specimen whose looks only enhanced
his lies. The Duke proposed to Mars that they take advantage of a recent run
of bad publicity that Diana had received. "If we could cause that disfavor to
DEEPEN into outright hostility ... and provoke a confrontation ... wouldn't
that achieve BOTH your aims ? The destruction of Wonder Woman ... and a
worsening of the World War ?"

Mars was delighted with the plot and sent his underling to Earth, where the Duke
soon manipulated Wonder Woman into toppling the Statue of Liberty (which she'd seen as an
animated attacker) and attacking American military forces (whom her eyes had
perceived as Nazis). The Flash's attempt to intervene was met with an
illusion designed for himself. When his speed caused the mirage to fade, Jay
Garrick realized that something was very wrong.

Hoping to expose the mastermind behind the illusions, Jay disguised himself as a Nazi
super-villain called Siegfried the Speedster and raided the courtroom where a
more docile Wonder Woman was attending a preliminary hearing for her actions.
With public opinion threatening to turn back in the Amazon's favor as she
fought the "Nazi," the Duke countered by providing a Prohibition-era gangster
with an "illusion-lens." Suddenly, Diana found a concrete behemoth in her
path and, finally cognizant of the fact that she was being manipulated, she
simply stopped fighting. In a moment, Wonder Woman found herself amidst a
heap of gray dust and rock. "I was battling the sidewalk itself ... literally
pounding myself to death against the concrete."

Napoleon Jones, the gangster in possession of the lens, was taken into custody even as
he accused a mysterious Duke of being the mastermind. In Olympus, the rogue was about to
pay a stiff penalty for his failure. "You've always been so VAIN about your
deceptive good looks," snarled Mars. "Let your punishment be the stripping of
illusion! Let the world see you as you REALLY are -- deep in your SOUL. There
is your punishment, Deception!"

Now a bald, toothless, shrivelled shell of his former self, the Duke of Deception made
a vow. "This is YOUR FAULT, Amazon! You'll PAY for this, U swear. If it takes forever ...
I swear you'll suffer! SUFFER!"

Roy Thomas, incidentally, introduced the "real" Siegfried the Speedster into his 1942-era
ALL-STAR SQUADRON continuity, thus making the convenient appearance of a Nazi
speedster in the courtroom a bit less obviously a hoax. As Zyklon, the Nazi
version of the Flash debuted in ALL-STAR SQUADRON # 45.

Little more than a year after his first chronological appearance, the Duke of Deception
made his last. In a contest judged by the Gods, Diana had lost her Wonder Woman title
to a redheaded Amazon named Orana but took it back when her successor was
killed. In early 1979, Wonder Woman found herself facing a new trial when the
Angle Man hijacked the space shuttle and the NASA personnel seemed to be
working on his behalf by creating a super-weapon. Noting a General's
reference to "conquest,"the greed displayed by the project coordinator and
the deceptive behavior of an astronaut, the Amazon princess began to
ascertain what was going on.

Striking astronaut Mike Bailey, Wonder Woman watched the Duke of Deception emerge from
his body. "You defied the Gods --became the Wonder Woman again AGAINST our will -- with no
true TEST to regain the title. This mission is that test -- and you are going
to FAIL!" The Duke's prediction notwithstanding, Wonder Woman defeated the
Angle Man and expelled Mars himself from the villain's body. The goddess
Athena proclaimed Diana "the one true Wonder Woman. Go ... and know that all
is right with you and your gods" (WW # 254, by Jack C. Harris, Delbo and Giella).

As the Crisis On Infinite Earths was bearing down on the DC Universe in 1985, the Duke
of Deception was granted a brief half-page biography in WHO'S WHO # 7. He was never seen
again.

Or was he ? With his phantasms, he could make you believe he was anyone. With his powers of
illusion, he could make you believe anything. The Duke of Deception has not been sighted in
the modern DC Universe but that does not mean he no longer exists. Be afraid ...
be VERY afraid ...

MikishawmMember

posted November 26, 2000 12:59 PM

Hal Jordan, super-villain. If you want a phrase guaranteed to generate
controversy among Green Lantern fans, that's the one to use. And yet, back in
1966, Hal's own Uncle Titus was suggesting that very thing.

Multi-millionaire architect Titus Thomas Jordan was "far and away the richest member of
the Jordan clan," complete with "his own private airfield -- and golf course," a
butler named Givens and a chauffeur named Williams. Unfortunately, the public
also regarded T.T. as the meanest member of the family, joking that "the
initials stand for 'Terrible Temper' Jordan."

Titus approached his nephew with the challenge of using Jim Jordan's new public relations
agency to correct his image as an ogre. Unknown to the young man, however, Titus had
also been enlisted by Jim's wife, Susan, to prove that her husband was Green
Lantern. "If a nephew of mine is really Green Lantern," he thought, "I want
to know it. They can't keep secrets like THAT from ME!"

At a family gathering at his estate that weekend, Titus hosted Sue, Jim and brothers
Jack and Hal for a reunion. With Jim escorted to the library to select photographs for his
uncle's promotional campaign, Titus laid out the plan for the rest of the
family. "I've created one of those super-criminals that Green Lantern is
always fighting, complete with a snazzy uniform. One of us will pose as this
phony criminal -- and I've decided it will be YOU, Hal."

"ME ? But I'm -- er -- not the type."

"DAD BLAST IT! Are you going to spoil everything now by arguing with me ?"

Hal finally agreed but he blanched when he saw what he was supposed to wear. The costume
of the Bottler was in shades of light and dark orange and the bottle motif was
everywhere, from stems on the gloves and boots to icons on his chest and cowl to
miniature flasks on the belt. Hal's reaction had nothing to do with the
design, though. As Green Lantern (the REAL one), he'd crossed paths with the
supposedly imaginary villain on the previous night.

When he interrupted the Bottler's warehouse heist, GL discovered that each flask on
his belt contained a different threat, from explosives used to open a safe to knockout
gas that rendered the Emerald Gladiator unconscious. Hal realized that
playing along with Uncle Titus' game might flush out the real Bottler and he
headed for the library to "'break in' and start 'robbing.'" Intent on his
mission, Hal never saw the weighted bottle coming for his head and collapsed
to the ground. "We can do without YOU in this plot," observed his assailant.
"Why use a FAKE Bottler when the REAL ONE is ready for action!"

Elsewhere, Jim told Sue that he'd already figured out what she and Titus were up to
and strolled off to talk to the man he saw climbing in a window. Tapping the prowler on the
shoulder, a smiling Jim said, "Hold it! I know who you are." The Bottler
grabbed him by the jacket and pulled back his arm even as the young man
laughed. "Oh, stop the pretense, Hal. I know you wouldn't lay a finger on me
-- !"

"Not a finger -- but my whole fist, chump!"

So much for Jim.

Inside, Titus handed over his collection of stamp rarities to "Hal,"complaining
that his decision to tie him and Jack to their chairs was "going too far!" Green Lantern,
sporting a nice goose-egg on the back on his head, agreed and flew into the room to
wrap things up. After smothering one of the rogue's flask explosives in an
energy sphere, Hal fired an enormous projectile at his foe. "One way to deal
with a human bottle -- is by a giant bowling ball. And I claim a STRIKE!"

The unmasked thief was exposed as Titus' driver Williams. "He learned of the
imaginary criminal you created, Mr. Jordan," GL speculated, "so he decided to put your
idea into actual practice. He became the Bottler in real life. I guess he was fed up being
a chauffeur. No doubt he thought he saw an easy road to riches -- but it only
turned out to be a path to jail."

While Green Lantern hauled the Bottler off to jail, his bruised brother was receiving
virtually no sympathy from his wife. Sue was convinced that Jim had faked being struck
and slipped off to become the Emerald Crusader. "And that ice bag. As if YOU needed it!"

Even if his bride wasn't convinced, Jim believed he could use his uncle's embarrassment
over the incident to prevent Titus from arguing with his solution to his publicity
woes. "The truth is, Uncle Titus, that you DO have a terrible temper. And
you'll never get the public to like you unless you can control yourself."

The p.r. man let out a sigh of relief when Titus responded. "James, you're the first
one who ever had the courage to tell me that to my face! And you know something, I think
you've done me a good turn. I'm going to double your fee. And I am going to control my
temper -- you watch" (GREEN LANTERN # 44, by John Broome, Gil Kane and Sid Greene).

Whatever his intentions, Titus never quite triumphed over his temper, at least at
family gatherings (1969's GL # 71 and 1992's GL # 36). Susan Williams Jordan, though,
finally acquiesced to reality and gave up on the emerald theory about her husband
(1977's GL # 101). As for Williams (no relation to Sue), one presumes that
the Bottler is still on a shelf in a California prison.

Speaking on obscure heroes, two Quality Comics western characters were just featured in
AC Comics' reprint book, BEST OF THE BEST # 16. From 1950's CRACK WESTERN # 70,
you get an adventure of Arizona Raines and his kid sidekick Spurs ... AND you
get the ORIGIN of the masked hero known as the Whip! Art is by Paul Gustavson and Reed
Crandall, respectively.

HellstoneMember

posted November 28, 2000 09:25 AM

Mikishawm - to answer the question you asked in the "Hell" thread, I believe
Ur the Caveboy appeared in early issues of NEW FUN COMICS.

Or maybe Cutlass and Barracuda, who actually took over a WORLD'S FINEST cover in
the 80s, or Lu-Shu Shan, better known to world as I-Ching?

-- Xan

LOVE this post. Would love to see it collected in book form.

MikishawmMember

posted November 30, 2000 05:19 PM

Me, too!

Great choices, by the way.

XanadudeMember

posted December 01, 2000 11:19 AM

Another set of characters I'm stumped on - Her Highness and Silk. They appeared in
one of the Marvel Family/Kid Eternity stories in WORLD'S FINEST, where it made
mention that HH&S had their own series (Quality Comics, of course) for
several issues. In the WF story they were thieves, were they heroes or rogues
in the Golden Age?

MikishawmMember

posted December 02, 2000 12:46 PM

I thought I'd double up today with a couple characters that I don't have a lot of info
on:

"The story so far: Ur, the caveboy, has discovered fire in a tree struck by
lightning. He became a hero. The whole family sat around the fire when -- a dinosaur
appeared!!" -- Dick Loederer's "Caveman Capers" in NEW FUN COMICS # 2.

With that passage, the second installment of one of DC's earliest features began. The
one-page humor strip ran for five episodes in 1935's NEW FUN COMICS # 1-5 and, I'm sorry to
say, I've only seen issues # 2 and 5.

Like many caveman stories in comics and film, including the ALLEY OOP comic strip (launched
in 1933), the series opted to ignore the fact that men and dinosaurs did not co-exist.
Instead, each episode found the blonde, blank-eyed Ur and his curly haired
brunette sister Wur trying to evade some prehistoric creature.

In NEW FUN # 2, the siblings ran into a forest to evade a long-necked dinosaur that was
in close pursuit. After taking care to place his precious torch of fire between two
stones, Ur joined his sister in climbing headfirst into the top of a
hollowed-out tree trunk. The big lizard seemed to be amused by the small legs
and bare bottoms that were trying to mimic branches and began to twist his
neck around the tree. Neglecting his own bare bottom, the dinosaur abruptly
let go when his tail waved into the path of Ur's torch. While their pursuer
erupted with some choice profanity ("?*@?"), Wur and Ur began to crawl out the
base of the trunk.

By the final installment in # 5, Ur and Wur (now blonde with pigtails) had
gained the power of flight, albeit only because an ape-man had sent them hurtling
through the air at breakneck speed at the end of # 4. Their flight was spotted by
a creature that ... well, let's not mince words ... a creature that looked EXACTLY
like Walt Disney's Pluto with Dumbo-size reptilian ears. "Holy mastodon!" shrieked
Ur. "A flying ichtosaurus is after us!" As they whizzed by a hornets' nest on
a branch, Ur swatted it and the enraged insects attacked the flying dog.
While "Pluto" smashed into another tree, Ur and Wur's momentum finally
stopped and they began to plummet to earth.

Like a number of other 1930s DC strips, "Caveman Capers" didn't so much end as stop.
One is merely left to assume that Ur and Wur didn't survive their headlong plunge.
There's always the possibility, of course, that latter day cave teenagers Anthro or Kong
... or even 1946-1947 humor character Caveman Curly (ALL FUNNY # 14-20) ... stepped in
to rescue the kids who blazed the trail. In any event, it's all ancient history now.

Her Highness and Silk were the stars of one of comic books' first spin-off strips,
certainly the first villain spin-off. The "Her Highness" feature was launched in mid-1942's
HIT COMICS # 28, stealing the spot of Don Glory, Champion of Democracy, and
continued through # 57 in early 1949. After a pair of six-page installments,
the series proceeded with five-page episodes until the end.

Her Highness was a comedy staple, the innocent little old lady with granny specs and
white hair tied behind her head who was actually a thief. Her accomplice was Silk, an
attactive young woman with flowing brown hair and a body-hugging dress.
Together, they matched wits with Kid Eternity in his third appearance (HIT #
27). They escaped from jail in # 28 for a second clash with the Kid
(representing her only cover appearance) and moved directly to the center of
the book for the debut of their own series.

Future "Roy Raymond" artist Ruben Moreira drew Her Highness' appearances in "Kid Eternity"
and her series pilot. Alex Kotzky is speculated to have illustrated other early (and
late) episodes of the series while Janice Vallaeu drew a fourteen issue
stretch from # 35 to 48.

Former COMIC READER editor Mike Tiefenbacher noted that, while "Her Highness and Silk are
indeed in the confidence game, they're not very good at it and almost never succeed
at actually committing crimes. Silk, in fact, is honest but poor and hungry,
while Highness is a pickpocket capable of stealing candy from a baby (which
she does in one story). At the end of each tale, they wind up in jail (though
the contrast with VILLAINS such as the Cyborg or the Joker is marked)."

After a healthy run in HIT COMICS (surviving longer than most of Quality's super-hero
features), Her Highness and Silk entered comics limbo. In 1977, Kid Eternity was adopted
into the Fawcett comics universe of Earth-S by E. Nelson Bridwell (SHAZAM! #
27), who eventually revealed that the Kid and Freddy (Captain Marvel, Jr.)
Freeman were brothers (1982's WORLD'S FINEST # 280).

Logically, if Kid Eternity was part of the Marvel Family's world, his rogues gallery
would be, too. In the final Marvel Family episode in WORLD'S FINEST (# 282, by Bridwell
and Gil Kane), Her Highness and Silk returned, unchanged since 1949.

Decades earlier, at a public rally, the Marvels and all their friends had
been swept into an ageless limbo by the Sivana (SHAZAM! # 1). The two
con-women had evidently been working the crowd that day.

Appropriately, Bridwell paired Her Highness with Aunt Minerva, a Captain Marvel foe
who was a deceptively unthreatening old woman herself. Using Her Highness and Silk to
arrange things with Dudley Batson, Minerva had set up a Marvel Family charity
circus performance that would keep the heroes occupied while her gang looted
the homes of wealthy families in the audience. They reckoned without Kid
Eternity's newfound ties with the Marvels. Recognizing his old sparring
partners, the Kid alerted the heroes, used his powers to provide legendary
replacements at the circus and helped round up the entire mob.

"Highness," Silk asked as they were marched away, "How many times have I suggested
we go STRAIGHT ?"

"As many times as I've told you to SHUT UP, Silk. I will NOT abandon my PRINCIPLES!"

MikishawmMember

posted December 03, 2000 06:14 PM

"I feel like a character from Howard or Tolkein. Pretty soon, though, I'm gonna wake
up and find this is a spaced-out dream. And I'm gonna swear off reading
sword-and-sorcery sagas!" -- Jim Rook, 1969 (SHOWCASE # 82).

The circumstances that would transform Jim Rook into the Nightmaster began nearly
a millennium before his birth in the other-dimensional land of Myrra. The world was full
of strange sights, from the benevolent Zelks (grasshopper-like steeds that
the natives rode: SHOWCASE # 82) to Hackies (animated suits of armor "filled
with vile souls of dead Warlocks": # 83) to Smoke Spiders (giant arachnids
that materialized in unlimited numbers from magic vapors: # 84) to Arivegs
(monstrous flying plants that "devour anything that falls within their grasp: # 84).

In a kingdom of Myrra, a monarch had once commanded the court magician, the blue-skinned
Farben, to provide two renowned warriors with weapons that they would use in defense of
the realm. The blue-fleshed barbarian "Brom was given the enchanted Mace of
Mists." The pink-skinned Nacht, a goateed man clad in a blue hood and body
suit and a red cape, was bequeathed with the Sword of Night.

Corrupted by power, Brom and Farben conspired to murder their sovereign and the loyal
Nacht. The two warriors fought "for a full day" but ultimately the Sword of Night was
victorious. Before Nacht could react, Farben cast a spell to exile the hero
to "a separate spiritual plane" that overlapped with Myrra -- Earth. The
Sword of Night was stuck fast, Excalibur-like, in a stone column in the royal
chamber. With the disappearance of Nacht, the balance of power shifted in the
favor of Brom and his descendants. The faction known as the Warlocks reserved
a special fate for the kingdom that their patriarch had coveted. Its
"magnificent buildings crumbled" and its "people shrivelled under the mystic
onslaught," reduced into short, withered blue-skinned creatures.

On Earth, Nacht, using his family name of Roke (inferred from SHOWCASE # 83 & 84),
had no choice but to adapt to the strange new world of 10th Century Earth. He took a mate
and began a family that would extend for centuries to come. His legacy would
ultimately fall on the shoulders of a child born in 1942, a kid from the
slums of New York City named Jim Rook.

It seemed that Jim had to fight for everything in his life, rising up from poverty,
defying society to court a daughter of privilege named Janet Jones and carving out a career
as the lead singer of a rock band called the Electrics. A lifetime of struggles
had left the young man full of rage. Jim's speech seethed with often bitter
sarcasm and his violent temper was the central obstacle in Janet's parents'
refusal to approve their marriage plans.

After beating three hecklers into semi- consciousness ("You think because I don't look
like a bank manager I'm weak -- because, I favor peace, I'm a coward ... fair prey
for bullies ?"), Jim was pulled away by Janet. Walking through the streets of
lower Manhattan, Jim spotted a store called Oblivion, Inc. and, convinced
that a vacant lot was supposed to be on the spot, felt compelled to try the
door. He and Janet immediately realized that they'd made a mistake. The door
locked behind them, the temperature began to plummet and a spiral of golden
energy tore them away to the land of Myrra.

With Janet nowhere in sight, Jim was brought before the wizened King Zolto. The monarch
admitted that he'd taken advantage of a fracture in the barrier that had long separated
Earth and Myrra and summoned a descendant of Nacht before the opportunity passed.
Jim kept his cool but insisted that he and the missing Janet be sent home at once.

The conversation was disrupted by the humming of the Sword of Night, still sheathed in
the pillar. The song of the sword was a warning of approaching Warlocks and Zolto pleaded
with Jim to release the blade. Despite Rook's insistence that "from swords I
know zero," Zolto assured him that "the weapon will guide your arm."

As predicted, the heir to Nacht could draw the weapon and he instantly felt "some sort
of weird strength surging through my arm -- through my whole body. The blade seems
ALIVE ... to KNOW what it wants to do. I didn't even see that Warlock bolt
coming. The sword pulled my hand to parry. Since this obviously isn't my show
-- I'll follow the sword's lead -- and hope for the best!"

It was a strange scene, the Earthman with the turtleneck, Nehru jacket and striped pants
fighting otherworldly magicians in green robes. Though Zolto had to bail out his young
defender in the end, he pronounced Jim Rook's first battle a success.

"Look -- will you DITCH that warrior bit ? Like I said before, my scene is SOUND -- NOT
derring-do! It's been grins playing Prince Valiant, but I've had enough. So show me where
Jan is, and point me in the direction of home!"

That, unfortunately, was a problem. Janet had been pulled away by Warlocks during the
transferrence spell. "If you would see Janet alive again," Zolto informed him. "You must
enter the Warlock fortress."

Accompanying Jim on his quest was Boz, a man whose clothes and skin were snow white. Rook
himself was dressed in the costume of his ancestor, whose thermal qualities were more
appropriate for the frigid Myrran atmosphere (and, Zolto must have secretly
thought, furthered Jim's acceptance of the role of hero). "From this moment
forward,"the king proclaimed. "Throughout Myrra, you shall be known as -- Nightmaster!"

"Hooray for me."

As his travels progressed, Jim learned of other properties of the Sword of Night. Its touch
would compel anyone to speak honestly ("This thing have truth-juice on the point
?"), something that Rook learned accidentally when the weapon grazed a woman
he thought was Janet. The enchantment instantly revealed her as the Ice
Witch, who had no choice but to reveal the spell that would grant them access
to the Warlock's fortress (SHOWCASE # 82, by Denny O'Neil, Jerry Grandenetti
and Dick Giordano).

As the journey progressed, Rook found more allies in the form of a barbarian named Tark
(short for Tickeytarkapolis Trootrust) from the mountainous terrain of Szasz
and Doe and Rae (no word on Mi or Fa), a pair of mute Sirens. "They defied
the Warlocks. As punishment, the fiends stole their voices and locked their song in a
crystal casket."

Thanks to Tark, the band of warriors learned that Janet was a captive of a Warlock known
as Duke Spearo and invaded his castle. Therein, Spearo explained to Janet that she
was a critical component in the Warlock king's plan to breech the dimensional
barrier and invade Earth. "King wants to make you queen ... unsound idea, I
think -- making foreigner queen. Queen will lead invading forces ... only for
magic to operate, she must be conscious and willing. We're taking you to
King. He will PERSUADE you to help conquer your foreign home."

Within the castle, Rae found the casket that held the voices of the Sirens and carried
it along as they pursued Spearo and company aboard the Moonship, a flying vessel that
travelled only at night. When Jim and company fell from the ship during a
battle with the spectral Hackies, Rae opened the box and her sweet song filled
the air -- and created a cascading solid bridge of sound to catch their fall.
By chance, Tark explained, the Moonship had been passing over "Melody Chasm
... an enchanted spot where Siren sound becomes substance."

Rook, of course, didn't believe it for a minute but he couldn't argue with the results.
"Too freaky ... on Earth, when I was a rock musician, I used to say music was my life.
That was just rapping ... but HERE, in this nightmare, music really IS my
life" (SHOWCASE # 83, by O'Neil and Berni Wrightson).

And, much as Jim might have wished otherwise, his reputation was growing. The Warlocks
had begun to refer to their adversary by Zolto's chosen name, the Nightmaster.

The tide began to turn when Jim, Tark and Boz met a decrepit sorcerer named Mar-Grouch
the Mystic, who'd been born prior to the exile of Nacht and was sympathetic to humans.
The mage cast a spell to transport Jim's fiancee to his chambers but Spearo
and his wizard had anticipated the development and transformed Janet mentally
and physically into a barmaid named Mizzi.

Eventually, Jim was captured and mocked by the Warlocks for defending a world that wasn't
his own. "I COULD give you a big routine about how any tyranny anywhere ... must
be fought because so long as ONE PERSON's enslaved, we're ALL in danger of
losing liberty. Or I could tell you that I believe in doing whatever I've GOT
to do as well as I can, no matter how distatesteful it is. Both answers are
PARTIALLY true -- but the REAL answer is that you took someone precious from
me. And once I decided I love someone, I'm committed ... I'll do anything for
him or her. It so happens that I love Jan."

And somewhere within the mind of Mizzi, Janet began to reemerge, discreetly cutting her
lover's bonds and returning to her normal form. The desperate Warlocks plunged through a
portal to Earth, followed by Jim and Janet. Tark's last words rang in their
ears as the gateway closed: "Farewell, Nightmaster. You were a good warrior
-- and a good friend!"

In the vacant office of Oblivion, Inc., the Nightmaster pointed his blade at the Warlocks
and gave them their options. "Either go back to Myrra -- or stay here and try your
luck against the Nightsword." The mages retreated and the Sword of Night
"rends the black portal to Myrra -- rends and destroys it." Embracing on the
vacant lot where Oblivion, Inc. had once stood, the young lovers consoled
themselves with the likelihood that they'd just experienced a joint hallucination. Still in
Jim's hand, however, was the Sword of Night (SHOWCASE # 84, by O'Neil and Wrightson).

In SHOWCASE # 82, Denny O'Neil had predicted that "Jim Rook may vanish into the limbo
reserved for three-D movies, Edsel autos and other ideas that tried to grab a piece of
popularity, and missed." He was, unfortunately, correct. Regardless,
Nightmaster had opened a new door at DC and, like the portal to Myrra, it
would never quite be sealed. The early to mid-1970s saw a plethora of fantasy
and sword-and-sorcery titles, from classics like Beowulf and Burroughs' John
Carter and company and Lieber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser to original series
such as Claw the Unconquered and Stalker and Starfire and the only real
success, Mike Grell's Warlord.

DC made a nod towards Jim Rook himself in a Charles Vess-illustrated entry in 1986's
WHO'S WHO # 16. Nightmaster also popped up in comic book limbo in 1990's ANIMAL MAN # 25 and
as a prisoner in the gulag in 1996's KINGDOM COME # 3 and 4. Charles Vess
depicted Nightmaster again on a single page in issue # 3 of 1991's BOOKS OF
MAGIC mini-series (scripted by Neil Gaiman). The story found Doctor Occult
taking Timothy Hunter on a tour of magical dimensions adjacent to Earth. Of
Nightmaster, Occult had this to say:

"The worlds beyond can be refuges, Timothy. Perhaps EACH of us creates his fantasy world --
a place to which we can retreat. HERE a country named Myrra, THERE the land of Pytharia,
and at the EDGE of every map, 'Here there be dragons.'

"In your world, Jim Rook sang songs of enlightenment and love -- until he was seized by
a kingdom of blood and enchantment ... where companions to heroes are forever brave and
true ... where evil wizards forever brood on dusty parchment spells to raise
their armies of the dead, and then forever flee, their schemes in ruins ...
where giants Feefifofum until their heads are severed by heroes' swords --
each blade named and magical. In THIS place, men have sobriquets like Claw the Unconquered,
or Stalker the Soulless; Rook became Nightmaster annd will fight to save the world, or to
destroy it. In worlds such as this the terms become synonymous, I am afraid."

Nightmaster didn't make a full-fledged return to action until back-to-back guest
appearances in 1995. A far more mellow Jim Rook resurfaced in PRIMAL FORCE # 8 as the
proprietor of an occult book store based out of Oblivion, Inc. William Twotrees, a member
of the Leymen, had been a regular visitor to the shop even though Rook
cautioned against "dabbling in the dark arts." Rook clearly still had the magic touch,
recognizing "the Power" in Will's teammate Liam McHugh when they shook hands.

When Will and most of the team were captured by the occult body known as the
August, it was the Nightmaster (summoned by the Black Condor) who ended his
long retirement and rushed to the rescue (PF # 11). The Sword of Night was as
capable as ever and severed the mystic bonds that held the Leymen as if they
were butter (PF # 12, by Steven Seagle, Nicholas Choles and Barbara
Kaalberg).

One month later, Nightmaster could be found in the pages of SWAMP THING # 160.
Unlike the man in PRIMAL FORCE, this version of Jim Rook was a good samaritan
who'd given away most of the money he made as a singer to help others and now
spent his days working in a tavern (while avoiding alcohol himself). He
seemed genuinely surprised when Oblivion, Inc. rematerialized across the
street. "I thought I hallucinated the whole building," he explained, as part
of a 1969 drug overdose. His short-lived marriage to Janet had survived
barely two hundred days before their divorce in 1971.

Now, though, his other life came rushing back to haunt him. Myrra, it seemed, had
been razed by the Warlocks, who now planned to cross the threshhold to Earth. Tark and
a pink-fleshed Boz made a desperate flight to Earth (with the aid of the mystic
Traveller) to summon the Nightmaster. Tark died a tragic death at the hands
of a semi-trailer but Boz managed to find an incredulous Rook. Jim insisted
that Boz was a hallucination but Nightmaster's one-time servant refused to
give up, pulling the dormant Sword of Night from a cupboard and telling Rook
that "you're the only hope we got left." Against his better judgment, Jim
entered Oblivion, Inc. with Boz and took his blade in hand. The Sword of
Night blazed back to life and the Nightmaster was reborn (SWAMP THING # 160,
by Mark Millar, Phillip Hester and Kim DeMulder).

Elsewhere, the Swamp Thing fought and killed a druid who planned to establish the
Warlocks' first foothold on Earth (SWAMP THING # 161-162). At that point, the
Swamp Thing was being subjected to a series of trials by various elemental
Parliaments and, weary of the testing and fearful for his humanity, he
refused to participate in pushing back the invasion of the Warlocks. The
Traveller, working with another mystic known as El Senor Blake, summoned
Janet Jones to guarantee that Jim Rook would not back out. Though happily
married to an accountant named Maurice and the mother of a boy named Patrick,
Janet was compelled to drive from Florida to Manhattan.

In New York, Nightmaster stood guard at the portal within Oblivion, Inc. even as
other defenders like Claw, Stalker and Starfire fled (SWAMP THING # 163). Ironically,
the arrival of Janet that was meant to bolster his resolve caused him to weaken. Her
words were so obviously scripted ("I don't CARE about the life I've carved out
for myself in Florida or my marriage to that idiot accountant. I just want to
be with you again, Jim, until death do us part.") that he began to waver.

The resolution of the crisis seemed to take its cue from Gaiman's BOOKS OF MAGIC passage,
which had lumped together DC's sword-and-sorcery characters and dismissed them as being
part of a "fantasy world." Indeed, when the paranormal outbreaks throughout
the country finally drew the Swamp Thing to the epicenter of the crisis, he
confirmed that the threat of the Warlocks and the "intersection of worlds"
was being created by Jim Rook.

Entering Oblivion, Inc., the elemental found it filled with books of fantasy that Jim
Rook had read as a child. "Oblivion, Inc. itself is nothing more than a physical
manifestation of a desire to retreat ... back into a simpler age, filled with books."
Confronting Rook, the Swamp Thing explained that "Myrra and its fairytale
people ... and nothing more than your retreat from the real world ... brought
to life by the scale of your misery. SEARCH your feelings, Rook ... What
happened in your past ... which now causes you such terrible pain ... ? Why
does your subconscious seek to destroy the world ?"

In an instant, all of the supernatural manifestations were gone and the destruction
they caused was soon erased. "They're gone ... Boz, Tark, Janet. All those people who meant
so much to me. All gone forever." Asked whether Janet had been created as
part of his fantasy, Jim responded, "Are you kidding ? She was my WIFE.
Breaking up with Janet was probably the main reason I lost my grip on the real world, man.
Realizing she didn't really WANT me anymore is what gave me the STRENGTH to let go."

Questions remained, of course. "How come I was able to build this WHOLE shop with my
subconcious mind and fill it with all these dumb, old books I lost when I was a kid ?
Who's behind this, man ? What's going down here ?"

Jim Rook never got his answers but the Swamp Thing did. Summoned before the elemental
Parliament of Vapors, he was informed that "the Nightmaster was chosen as the catalyst for
your elevation because the sword symbolizes not only air but also
intelligence and reason. These qualities were needed to halt the migration
from Rook's personal dreamworld." Elsewhere, an unwitting Rook sold the
former Sword of Night to El Senor Blake, who placed the weapon with other
objects of power, including Sargon's Ruby of Life (SWAMP THING # 164).

Was this truly the end of Nightmaster ? Was the Jim Rook who ran a bookstore out of
Oblivion, Inc. the same man who claimed he hadn't seen the building or acted as Nightmaster
in a quarter century ? And if Claw, Stalker and company were truly the creations
of Rook, how does one account for their involvement elsewhere in the DC
Universe ? Those lingering questions suggest that Nightmaster's final battle
has yet to be fought.

EduardoMember

posted December 04, 2000 01:33 PM

Sorry to interrupt the normal way of this topic.

As Hellstone posted, I reposted all the Obscure DC Characters Round I some days
ago. I didn´t reply to the topic or post a link to it in this thread because
my connection was down for a few days, after the reposting was done. I loved
this topic and its predecessor (also the Miki I know who you are in the
Batman boards) and while I never post in it, it is one of my regular stops in
the DC boards. I happened to have store the entire topic in my computer and
after reading that you needed it, I said "let´s try to post it". It
worked so-so (a five pages topic is now a really long, long, long one page topic).

The repost was also a way to thanks Hellstone and Mikishawn, who in the past had answered
some of my questions (like the Mirror masters, Bloodsports and Chillbaines questions).

So thanks to all the posters on this topic for making it a great place to have fun.

XanadudeMember

posted December 06, 2000 06:30 PM

How about a comprehensive history of Vartox, the rival/hero from Superman, introduced in
the early seventies, reintroduced right before the Crisis. There was some discussion of him
on another board and the...ummm....fascination some of us gay guys have for him....

the4thpipMember

posted December 07, 2000 11:31 AM

Not sure if this was brought up before:
I dimly remember a Superman villain from the 70s that was carrying an aerial
antenna around, or he had one as a symbol on his chest.

MikishawmMember

posted December 09, 2000 05:13 PM

That would be Blackrock. He and Vartox are now on the list

The Texas sands of Wild Stallion Mesa were soaked with blood on that dark day in the
late 1800s. A young Mexican girl watched as her father was gunned down by bandits for the
chest of gold her carried. A young Texan boy saw his own father struck with a
bullet by the same outlaws. Rising out of the dust, the boy proved every bit
the marksman that his Texas Ranger father was. In an instant, the killers lay
dead at his feet. Rick Wilson was barely eight years old.

Captain Sam Wilson was in no hurry to see his son fulfill his dream of being a Texas
Ranger but no one could deny that he thrived on Rick's companionship. Since Maria Wilson
had been slain by an unknown gunman (whom she had described with her dying
breaths), Sam couldn't bear to let the boy out of his sight. The youngster
had vowed to find his mother's killer when he joined the Rangers and Sam
feared where the path to vengeance might take him.

Paloma, the orphaned Mexican child, filled a void in the Wilson household, one that
Sam tried to deny. Insisting that she needed "the guidin' hand of a kind woman to bring
you up like a lady," the Captain sent her to a childless couple in Purple
Ridge. Within days, Paloma had fled her adoptive parents and returned to the
Wilson homestead. Informed that "the good Dios chose YOU to be my family ...
you and Rick," Sam knew better than to argue.

The family unit was joined by another scarred soul when Rick was in his thirteenth
year. The boy had rescued a hawk that was being attacked by two cougars and nursed it
back to health. As he peeked in at his son that night, Sam grinned at the glare
the hawk was giving him "as if he was Rick's own watchdog." The bond between
the hawk and the young man would never be broken.

All through his teens, Rick polished his sharpshooting skills. By the time he was
eighteen, he'd achieved a degree of accuracy that led even his accomplished father to admit
that "I'd hate to face you in a shoot-out." Still, the gray-haired Ranger
kept dragging his feet and Rick finally exploded at the man he'd idolized.

"I'm tired of waitin' -- tired of bein' treated like a wet-nosed kid!" Packing a few
belongings, Rick rode off, telling his adoptive sister that "I'm gonna PROVE I'm a man ...
and Dad ain't gonna like it!" The hawk, silent as ever, followed in the sky above.

A year later, Captain Wilson was called upon to investigate a stagecoach robbery, one
in which "two men were gunned down in cold blood." A third man, who'd pleaded in vain for
a non-violent robbery, was the only bandit who was positively identified. He
wore tan pants, a light green shirt open at the chest, a dark green vest,
brown poncho and black hat and had brown hair -- and the face of Rick Wilson.

In the streets of Purple Ridge, Rick was called out -- by his father. Paloma tried
to intercede, pleading with her father and brother to settle things peacefully, but neither
would listen. Rick proved the quicker draw by a fraction of a second and left his
father bleeding on the dusty ground. Typical of Rick's skills, the shot had
been aimed carefully enough to only graze the old man -- but it had taken its
toll. Flatly announcing that "I have no son," Sam walked from the doctor's
office and past a crowd of slack-jawed townspeople to nail up a picture on
Rick Wilson: "Wanted ... Outlaw."

That night, Rick had a vision of a man cloaked in black who rode an ebony horse. He
warned of "a 'welcoming committee' of two ... up ahead" and vanished as abruptly as he'd
appeared. The manifestation of the California-based horseman in Texas fueled
the supernatural legend of El Diablo. Though unnerved by the words of "the
devil," Rick found the warning reaffirmed by the hawk, which was circling
ominously over a secluded spot near Wild Stallion Mesa. His partners in
crime, it seemed, did not like to share.

Within the hour, Captain Wilson and his posse discovered the money from the stage
robbery at the mesa ... alongside the corpses of the Fenton Brothers. The man that the
siblings had intended to ambush was long gone. "I didn't want it to end this way,"
Rick thought. "I've always dreamed of wearin' a Texas Ranger badge ... of
ridin' with Dad and his men. But these are the cards that ramrod dealt me.
I'VE got to play 'em HIS way. To the bitter end" (1970's ALL-STAR WESTERN #
2, by Bob Kanigher and Tony DeZuniga).

The 1970 revival of ALL-STAR WESTERN, which had originally run from 1951 to 1961,
represented editor Dick Giordano's take at a western title for DC. The first issue was a
reprint showcase for Pow-Wow Smith but the last page promised "a new breed in blazing
western adventure" with the next issue's introduction of El Diablo ... and The Outlaw.

Both the supernatural-tinged El Diablo and the more straightforward "Outlaw" came from
the typewriter of veteran writer Robert Kanigher. Indeed, the premise of Rick
Wilson seemed like a dark reflection of Kanigher's earlier western hero,
Johnny Thunder (which ran from 1948 to 1961). That series had also involved a
widower lawman and his son but, in that instance, John Tane had promised his
dying mother not to follow in his father's footsteps and was forced to adopt
the alter ego of Johnny Thunder to get around his vow. Where Sam Wilson was
reticent about allowing his son to be a lawman, Sheriff Bill Tane desperately
wanted John to join him and considered the boy a coward when he declined.

The series gained another link to Johnny Thunder when Gil Kane signed on as artist for
the second and third episodes of "Outlaw." In the first of these, Rick found that he
wasn't truly accepted anywhere. Even the outlaws who worked with him viewed
the son of a Texas Ranger with suspicion. During a train robbery, half of the
Dix Gang took advantage of Rick's precarious position atop the locomotive to
ambush him while the rest of the bandits held Sam at gunpoint in a car below.
On separate fronts, the Wilsons killed their respective assailants but the
chasm between father and son was as wide as ever. Sam Wilson had no son (ASW # 3).

In retaliation for Captain Wilson's capture of outlaw "King" Coffin, the bandit's gang
abducted Paloma and vowed to kill her if their leader was not freed. As the horrified
townspeople watched, Wilson refused to make a deal, defiantly placing the
noose around Coffin's neck when the hangman himself refused.

Rick rode into the crowd, snatched Coffin and demanded an alliance. "You've got the
best hideout in this territory. No lawman's broken into it -- and lived. I sure could use
a place like that to cool off." At the encampment, Rick wasn't simply cool, he seemed
as cold as his father, callously allowing Coffin to shoot at the hawk and
make advances on Paloma.

It had all been a pretext, of course. Once the gang's guard was down and most of the
men were drunk or sleeping, Rick stormed into Coffin's room as the villain was
attempting to rape Paloma. The livid bandit pursued the brother and sister,
with only the savage claws of the hawk preventing Coffin from shooting them.
In an underwater struggle with "King" in whitewater rapids, only Rick
survived. The rescue of Paloma and the defeat of her kidnappers had no
discernable impact on Sam Wilson. He had no son (ASW # 4).

During a visit to his mother's grave, Rick froze at the sound of a "klik" of a gun
behind his right ear. Captain Wilson finally had the drop on the outlaw. In handcuffs,
Rick made a futile attempt to escape from Sam's deputy and grab his gun but the
old Texas Ranger shot the weapon out of his hand. "Got to hand it to the old
cuss," his son admitted. "He's still as fast as chain-lightning."

The young man's jail time was measured in hours thanks to a prison break engineered by
"Gunpowder" Grimes to free one of his men. Rick went along for the ride, even helping
hold off his father and a posse, but a musclebound member of the gang
pronounced him a spy. Under a barrage of slaps and accusations, Rick exploded
and began hammering back at the big man. The young outlaw observed that "only
the chill of Gunpowder's gun pokin' into my ribs stopped me from killin'
him." Rick hands were tied behind his back and he was tossed into a derelict
train car for the night.

The gang had been gearing up for an assault on Purple Ridge during their 50th anniversary
Founder's Day celebration. Filling the abandoned locomotive with dynamite the following
morning, they intended to send the timebomb rolling into town and take
advantage of the destruction that followed. The central target in the
impending robbery was a golden horseshoe that was to be awarded to the winner
of a sharpshooting contest.

As the train moved inexorably towards Purple Ridge, Rick heard the shriek of his hawk.
The bird's beak furiously tore at the ropes around his wrists until Rick's hands,
now covered in blood, were free. As he defused the explosives, the outlaw was
stunned to see his father riding alongside the car.

"Your hawk led me to you, son. Jump on my horse. We've got work to do -- cleanin' out
the Gunpowder gang."

Though Rick's heart had soared when he heard his Dad call him "son," the situation was
far from good, particularly after Captain Wilson's horse was shot. Taking refuge beneath the
stalled train, father and son prepared for a last stand as Gunpowder grabbed
a stick of his trademark dynamite. "At least I'm fightin' alongside you, Pa
--like the Ranger I always wanted to be. Instead of helpin' you as an undercover agent."

Rick later recalled that they'd been low on ammunition. "Our last slugs ricocheted off the
rocks, showerin' sparks on the short fuse of the dynamite Gunpowder held. The blast
thundered like a mountain blowin' its top off. When the ground finally
stopped shakin' ... we crawled out. Pa drew out somethin' shiny that I'd
dreamed about ever since I was a kid ..."

"I want you to be wearin' the badge that's rightfully yours, son. So when we get back
to town I can tell folks you never were an outlaw but a secret Ranger."

"Mom 'knew' all the time. But, now I can tell Paloma the truth about my masquerade."

The day was capped when Sam and Rick competed against one another in the sharpshooting
contest. A beaming Paloma announced that "the judges ruled it was a tie. The golden horseshoe
will remain in the family -- bringing us all good luck."

The trio rode off into the sunset, still in a state of euphoria. Sam vowed that "from now
on, son -- we'll fight together."

"You an' me, Pa. Out in the open at last. Father and son wearin' the same star.
Keepin' it bright and shiny" (ASW # 5, by Kanigher and Jim Aparo).

The abrupt conclusion to "Outlaw" caught many readers off guard in 1971, with more than
one objecting to the unexpected revelation that Rick was an undercover Ranger. In looking
over the entire series, though, it seems evident that Kanigher had the development
in mind from the beginning, having carefully avoided involving Rick in any
crime beyond robbery. Still, the six-panel wrap-up was undeniably hasty,
without so much as a reaction from either Captain Wilson or Paloma to Rick's
secret. Indeed, one is left to wonder just how long Sam had been in on the
secret.

The decision to end Rick Wilson's run was an editorial one. Dick Giordano had been
succeeded by Joe Orlando, who wanted to move in a different direction with a different
creative team. The "Outlaw" logo would continue to grace ALL-STAR WESTERN but, like Rick
Wilson, it would only be in the descriptive sense. Billy the Kid was about to ride
into town.

MikishawmMember

posted December 10, 2000 02:51 PM

Pancho Guinones was having a good day. He had a fine new horse and saddle, a hot
meal in his belly and a promising start to his card game. Somehow, though, he
got the impression that his luck was about to go sour. Maybe it was that
blonde stranger in buckskins who stood in the doorway of the tavern and
called him a "sneaky, murderin' rat." After the cigar was shot out of his
mouth, Pancho was fairly confident that good fortune had left him.

"You shot my Pa in the back less'n a few hours ago -- then you stole his horse and
saddle."

Pancho insisted that, whatever else he may have done, he wouldn't have shot a man
in the back. A local stepped forward to say, "He's right, Billy. ... Ah'm no friend of
this thieving varmint, but ah do know he's above thet kind'a killin'."

The Mexican bandit did admit to taking the horse and saddle, though. "Pancho see
thees beautiful horse weeth no one to care for heem, so he say 'Pancho, thees three hombres
who shoot thees old man, who leave thee poor horse to starve, so you must --"

Billy stopped him at that point. With someone who could identify the killers, the Kid
had a chance at bringing them to justice. Billy agreed to let Pancho keep the horse if he'd
help track down the assassins and the two set up camp for the night. By
morning, Pancho was gone again, adding Billy's money, provisions and watch to
his rapidly accumulating cache of goods.

Billy picked up the trail in a village where Pancho had eaten breakfast. Discovering
the stolen eighty dollars, the Kid slapped the woman and accused her of being the Mexican's
accomplice. "And what about my watch ? Was he wearing mah watch, too ?"

Sobbing, she asked, "How could I know this ? I am BLIND!"

Suddenly contrite, Billy tossed the money back on the table and stuttered that "mebbe it
were some other critter did thet stealin' ..."

"I am sure that is true," she answered, still weeping. "Mr. Pancho is very rich ... he has
left me money many times."

Once more, Billy tracked down Pancho, only to be informed by the bandit that someone else
had stolen the watch from him. Arriving in the next town, Pancho wondered why Billy was
stopping instead of continuing the search for the killers. "Ah'm NEVER going
to stop looking for them, Mex ... but right now we've gotta stop and earn
some money for new provisions."

A local recognized the blonde as Billy the Kid and insisted the gunfighter become
their new sheriff -- at least long enough to stop the threat of Blackie Kane. "None of us
could stand up to the lightning draw of Blackie -- an' nobody here has got the
stomach for that kinda violence." Billy agreed to take the job long enough to
capture Kane -- and none too soon. A drunken Kane had just gone on a spree
that spooked a horse and trampled a little boy.

While Billy transported the youngster to the nearest doctor some two miles away, his
companion decided to confront Kane. ("Pancho do not like hombres dat cause leedle boys
to get hort.") Billy returned to town to find Pancho dying of a gunshot wound
to the chest. Shoving his way through the crowd, Billy kneeled beside him,
cursing, "You dumb thieving Mex. Couldn't you have waited until I -- "

"Always you make weeth thee tough talk, keed -- but you no fool Pancho -- you love heem
like brodder ... Pancho ees happy you return een time, Billy ... so he can geeve back thee
watch weeth thee beautiful picture inside that he steal from you ... the
picture of YOU and your father ... Don't worry, keed ... your secret ees safe
with Pan ... cho ..."

Billy walked from Pancho's body to the tavern, identified the cocky Blackie Kane and shot
him dead. The next morning, Billy arranged a proper grave for Pancho, complete
with this epitaph: "I loved him."

"Adios, amigo ... I'll have to continue my hunt alone ... but ah'll never forget you ..."
Flipping open the pocket watch, the Kid looked at the family photograph and its
inscription, "To my loving daughter, Billy Jo," and then added, "Nor the fact
thet you kept my secret well ..." (1971's ALL-STAR WESTERN # 6, by John
Albano and Tony DeZuniga).

ASW # 7 continued the formula of the series when Billy was rescued from an Indian ambush
by another shady character, "'Ace' Van Winston ... gambler, gunfighter and philosopher."
He was also a man in love with killing, particularly Indians. Minutes after
Billy prevented Ace from murdering a native youngster, the duo found
themselves surrounded by an entire tribe. Ace was sentenced to burn at the stake but Billy
was freed out of gratitude for her part in sparing the boy -- the Chief's son.

Ace pleaded with Billy to kill him on the spot. When the Kid refused, the gambler pulled
out his trump card. "WAIT! Perhaps it would be easier for you to do if I told you it was I
who cut down your esteemed father!"

"Yo're lying, Ace ... yo're jest saying thet so ah'll -- "

"Then how would I know that his last words were of you ... his daughter -- MISS Billy Jo ?"

Overhearing the conversation, the Chief offered to let Billy and Ace face each other in
a duel, each with one bullet in their gun. Ace pretended to reach for his weapon and Billy
instinctively fired, mortally wounding him. "Ah don't get it," she told him,
"You only bluffed goin' fo' yore gun, gambler -- how come ?"

"Heh heh. That Indian chief would never have let me go free if I'd beaten your draw,
Kid ... The deck was stacked ... so I played ... the Joker" (ASW # 7).

In a tavern in the Midwest, Billy seemed to have found the other two men who had killed
her father. "Within seconds it was over ... the two men had drawn against a
legend ... the legend of Billy the Kid ... and lost ..." The other patrons in
the saloon could only gasp in disbelief. "NEVER seen a man draw THAT fast in mah life!"

The local sheriff was less impressed and put Billy in a cell with an old man nicknamed
One-Eye. The old timer was an inveterate scavenger and became fixated on his fellow
prisoner's boots. The two got into a fight and, when the sheriff tried to
break them up, One-Eye pulled a concealed knife and stabbed him in the back,
removing off the lawman's boots for good measure. Against her better
judgment, Billy fled the jailhouse with the killer.

Billy soon learned that One-Eye had plenty of enemies, including the gang that he'd run
out on. The bandits got the drop on the escapees and were stunned to discovered (by way
of her pocket watch) that Billy the Kid was a girl. Aware of Billy's
sharpshooting skills, One-Eye goaded the villains into trying to outdraw "a
skinny female." Three corpses later, Billy was ready to "make tracks outa
hyar ... afore any more of yore FRIENDS show up."

First though, the old scavenger felt compelled to pick through the possessions of the
bandits, plucking the boots off one body and looking through the telescope of another. Billy
asked again if One-Eye was ready to leave but the old man told her to go on
without him. "Ah got too much to do hyar fer a spell."

"Robbing dead men! Yore no better'n the skunks we jest killed!"

While Billy rode off, One-Eye began firing on the posse he'd seen while looking through
the telescope. "And if ah'm able to outshoot these varmints, ah bet ah'd shore
git me a lot more fine pair o' boots. Yes indeedy!"

On the opposite end of the shoot-out, the posse was confident that it was just a matter
of time before the killer was out of ammunition. "Yep ... his next stop'll be BOOT
HILL" (ASW # 8).

In the end, editor Joe Orlando decided that Billy the Kid simply wasn't going to click
and the series was put on hold. The twist of her concealed gender was interesting but
not visual enough to have any impact on the potential audience. If ALL-STAR
WESTERN was truly going to be a success, it needed a lead character who grabbed the reader
the moment they saw him. Vamping for time, Orlando released ASW # 9 as an all-reprint issue
and got to work with Albano and DeZuniga on creating a new western hero.

The end result was unveiled in late1971's ALL-STAR WESTERN # 10: "Cold-blooded killer,
vicious, unmerciful hellion without feeling, without conscience ... a man consumed by
hate, a man who boded evil ... That was ... Jonah Hex." And the rest was history.

the4thpipMember

posted December 10, 2000 03:49 PM

Here's someone I tried to find out about when I first saw him: Mr. E, the creepy
member of the Trenchcoat Brigade, who took Harry Potter... ooops... Tim Hunter through
the Time Stream in the original BOOKS OF MAGIC 4-parter. He later had a 3-issue limited
series with great art (by John K. Snyder, I think), which was later taken out of continuity
when the BoM became monthly. He then showed up in the Trench Coat Brigade mini. The other
members of the Brigade (Dr. Occult, Phantom Stranger and John Constantine) all were
established characters... Was Mr. E, too? And has he ever dated Ms. Tree?

taz_19632000Member

posted December 11, 2000 12:53 PM

Hey Miki,

Since you seem to be on a western kick right now, how about the original Terra-Man?

StGeorgeNYCMember

posted December 13, 2000 09:10 PM

I remember a two page prose Kid Flash story in the original TEEN TITANS series
where he battled a villain in a blue suit that gave him whirlwind powers.
It was assumed the villain spun out to sea when his battery died out and drowned...

Does that count?

taz_19632000Member

posted December 15, 2000 08:35 AM

Hello everyone. Does anyone have any history on Primal Force? Either the team or
individual members (or both)? How about Nubia? Is she still around? How about her history?

the4thpipMember

posted December 15, 2000 11:05 AM

Originally posted by taz_19632000:

Hello everyone. Does anyone have any history on Primal Force? Either the team or
individual members (or both)?

Hmmm... I have the entire run of PRIMAL FORCE at home, but I'm really bored at
the office so I'll see what I can remember off the top of my head... The book, btw, was
Steven T. Seagel trying to do the Nen X-Men before they let him do it for real...

Dr. Mist: Immortal African Mystic. Leader of the Global Guardians and the Ley Men.
I first saw him in a Superfriends story. The mystic flame that gave him his powers is an
idea "borrowed" from Henry Ryder Haggard's classic novel "She".

Meridian: Teleporting sorceress in a boring costume.

Golem: Hunka hunka moving
clay. I think this one was new. Based on Jewish legends and kabbala myths.

Red Tornado II: Former JSA and JLA member, part time wind elemental. He was a few
screws short of a hard drive when he was with this team, and a mystical reason was
suggested for this.

Jack O'Lantern II: Irish super hero, used to be a Global Guardian (though this might
have been his predecessor).

Claw: Asian warrior with a demon claw that has its own mind.

Black Condor: Flying mystery man with a very kinky black leather outfit that covers
about 10% of his lean, athletic body...

I gotta go take a cold shower here...
Did I forget someone?

outpost2New Member

posted December 16, 2000 08:13 PM

Super Turtle first appeared in the Superman family of titles (ACTION, SUPERMAN,
SUPERBOY, JIMMY OLSEN?, LOIS LANE?) sometime around the March 1963 cover date.

His origin wasn't revealed until SILVER AGE 80-PAGE GIANT #1 (July 2000). I don't have
the issue open in front of me, but I do recall that Super Turtle was really Tur-Tel of the
planet Galapagon. He was sent to Earth (possibly Earth-12, the home of the Inferior Five)
as a baby and adopted by human parents. His adoptive name was not revealed.

Perhaps someone here has the resources and time to research his actual first appearance.
(Surprisingly, the Grand Comic Database doesn't have the information.) I'd say you'd have
to go back to at least Jan 1962 and work your way forward to be sure you hadn't missed
anything. From my own investigations, assuming my notes are correct, I do know the
following:
Super Turtle appeared in SUPERBOY #103 (Mar 1963), but not #92-95,97-99,101-102
I think he was in ACTION #299 (not sure), but not #282-284,289-298
He also wasn't in SUPERMAN #153-158,160
Any additional info would be much appreciated.

MikishawmMember

posted December 16, 2000 09:35 PM

In the tradition of Charles Dickens, I have to work this weekend and next.
Bah, humbug! Unfortunately, that means another rerun here, in this case a
couple pieces I wrote for THE O'NEIL OBSERVER # 2 when it was scheduled to
be a JLA issue. (The actual ONO # 2 appears as in insert in the current
COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACE # 84, with a piece by me on Frank Robbins, a Green
Arrow-related interview with Denny O'Neil conducted by Scott McCullar,
Steve Skeates' recollection of the "lost" Green Arrow-Aquaman team-up
intended for AQUAMAN # 57 ... and more. End of plug.)

"Want to see more of the Mind-Grabber Kid ?" the final caption of
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 70 asked. "Let us know ... because we sort of
like him." Reaction to teenager Lucian Crawley's ridiculously costumed
alter-ego, whose envy of the JLA provoked an alien attack on the team, was
tepid at best. His introduction also marked an end to Denny O'Neil's
initial humorous slant on the series, replaced by a more somber approach
in the subsequent accounts of the devastation of Mars (#71), the death of
Larry Lance (# 74) and the betrayal of Snapper Carr (# 77). Still, if the
Mind-Grabber Kid was not the sensational character find of 1969, he was
not entirely forgotten either.

A Mark Waid-scripted sequence in 1992's JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY # 8
had the Kid show up in a line-up of potential new members for the Conglomerate:

"'Kid' ? How old are you ?"

"Thirty-one."

"Next!"

From the other end of the revival spectrum came 1995's PRIMAL FORCE #
10, written by Steven Seagle. In this one, a drooling Lucian Crawley,
cured of his "delusions" of being a super-hero at the cost of his sanity,
was liberated from the Kadmon Psychiatric Convalescent Home by the occult
organization known as the August. By page seven, Lucian had embraced the
dark side, acquiring the new name of Mind Eater. With his powers
amplified to enable him to possess other people's brains, Mind Eater spent
the next few months fighting various members of the Leymen before taking a
nasty chest wound from Claw in # 12.

Snapper Carr's betrayal of the Justice League in the pages of JLA # 77
may have been the most controversial act of Denny O'Neil's tenure on the
title. While developments such as the resignation of the Martian
Manhunter, the death of Larry Lance and the loss of Oliver Queen's fortune
were bound to have detractors, none involved the complete shift in
attitude that Snapper's actions did.

In the course of twenty-three pages, Snapper knocks out the Atom, helps
imprison Batman, impairs the nervous systems of the other Leaguers and
exposes their Secret Sanctuary to the Joker. A sardonic Atom quips, "When
that kid decides he doesn't like someone, he really goes all the way!" As
a reader in JLA # 80's letter column observed, all of this was a bit hard
to reconcile with the Snapper who was reduced to tears at the prospect of
the team's demise (JLA # 12, reprinted in # 76).

Named an honorary member of the JLA for his help in defeating Starro
(1960's THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD # 28), Snapper Carr appeared in every
episode through 1963's JLA # 20. After entering college, his group
participation slowed down but he rarely missed more than three issues in
succession. By the time Gardner Fox left the series in1968, Snapper's
beatnik patter was more than a little dated. O'Neil used the character
only in his first script (# 66) before reviving him for the fateful John
Dough story.

Like Wonder Woman (now powerless) and the Martian Manhunter (deemed
redundant next to Superman), Snapper was apparently regarded by O'Neil as
a character who was contributing nothing unique or useful to the JLA.
Aquaman, who seems to have fallen into the same category, sat out
virtually every issue of of O'Neil's run save for # 68. His absence would later
be attributed to his search for Mera, running in concurrent issues of AQUAMAN.

Though Snapper's betrayal seemed hard to believe, O'Neil provided a
credible motivation for his feelings. Ridiculed by his peers in college,
Snapper "got sick of being a nothing! I wanted to do something myself ...I
wanted to find out who I am." Steve Englehart built on this nicely in
1977's JLA # 150, providing a more complete picture of why the young man
would do what he did.

The saga of Snapper Carr's reconciliation with the Justice League would
play out over the course of the 1970s. Deeply ashamed at what he'd done,
he declined an invitation to attend the League's 100th meeting (JLA # 100)
and later went to elaborate lengths to alert the League to the threat of
Anakronus rather than simply using his signal device. "After everything
that happened between us, I didn't know if I still had the right to..." (# 114).

By JLA # 149 and 150, Snapper was destitute, unable to find a job --
even a humiliating position cashing in on his League status -- but denied
access to welfare payments. Tempted by the Key, he attacked the JLA again,
this time as the Star-Tsar. Moved by Snapper's plight, the League resolved
to help their former mascot turn his life around. With the backing of the
entire team, Lucas Carr landed a scientific position at S.T.A.R. Labs
(SUPERMAN FAMILY # 189). His subsequent appearances in JLA (# 181 and 200)
would be much more cordial.

The past decade has seen Snapper become a full-fledged super-hero as
part of the space-faring Blasters (1989's INVASION! # 3). More recently,
he's been partnered with a heroic android from the 853rd Century in the
pages of HOURMAN. Like most DC characters, Snapper's history has been
refined in the past decade (primarily in JLA: YEAR ONE # 3-12 and HOURMAN
# 16's reprise of JLA # 77) but his role as the man who betrayed the
Justice League will always be a part of his heritage.

HellstoneMember

posted December 17, 2000 01:06 PM

Mikishawm, the4thpip, and Outpost2 - thank you for your answers. A Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and everyone else here.

And I'd like to add one other name. Would anyone like to share the history
of the legendary
179. Slam Bradley
with me?

The list is growing again. And this thread has regained a lot of steam recently.
That's great.

/ola

outpost2New Member

posted December 17, 2000 04:30 PM

One correction:
"167. Cutlass and Barracuda"
should read "Swordfish and Barracuda".
They appeared around WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #304 (?) - #307.
Barracuda was Abigail Kent, an ancestor of Jonathan Kent.

MikishawmMember

posted December 17, 2000 06:49 PM

More re-runs, I'm afraid ...

First though, a couple quick responses:

Super-Turtle made his debut in 1962's ADVENTURE COMICS # 304, a
momentous event slightly overshadowed by Lightning Lad's death in the same issue.

Thanks for the updated roster, Hellstone! A couple quick comments: The
villain in BRAVE & BOLD # 158 is definitely named Flashback. The
villain in TEEN TITANS # 30 was never named but I've always referred to
him by the name of the story: "Whirlwind."

On with the show ...

A hallmark of Julius Schwartz's comic books of the 1960s and 1970s was
his commitment to keeping his series contemporary, whether it was adding an
elevator and telephone to the Batcave in 1964 or transferring Clark Kent to
WGBS in 1970. With interest in the space program at an all-time high in 1969
thanks to the July 20 moon landing, what could be more timely than establishing
a new location for the Justice League's headquarters -- in orbit above Earth ?

Snapper Carr's exposure of the League's Secret Sanctuary to the Joker
provided the necessary motivation. Concluding that their security had been
compromised, the League resolved to establish a new base. (Mark Gruenwald
later pointed out in THE AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS # 14 that some seven
villains had discovered the original headquarters prior to that issue.
Evidently, the Joker was the straw that broke the camel's back.)

JLA # 78 introduced the League's now-famous satellite sanctuary, set in
an orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth and accessible through a
teleportation tube utilizing Thanagarian technology. The satellite became
a fixture in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and throughout the entire DC line
well into the 1980s.

By that point, some had begun to express the sentiment that placing the
JLA in outer space put too much distance (figuratively and literally)
between them and the population they protected. Even the cover to JLA # 78
seemed to have anticipated the reaction. In a symbolic scene, the
Vigilante had angrily shouted, "I'm disgusted with you, Justice League!
How can you quit Earth at a time like this!"

Perhaps inevitably, the satellite met its end in 1984's JUSTICE LEAGUE
OF AMERICA # 229 and 230, the victim of invaders from Mars. Effective with
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ANNUAL # 2, the League formally abandoned the
venerable headquarters and moved to an abandoned factory in an ethnically
diverse Detroit neighborhood. Most of the damaged satellite fell out of
orbit in 1985's CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS # 8 and JLA ANNUAL # 3 with the
rest following in 1986's JLA # 251-252.

By contrast, the cave that served as the team's original Secret
Sanctuary has thrived in the years since its initial retirement. In 1972,
the JLA conducted their 100th meeting on the site (JLA # 100) and ousted
the Injustice Gang from the cave in 1978 (# 158). The League even
reestablished their quarters there on two separate occasions (JUSTICE
LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 247 to JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL # 7 and JUSTICE
LEAGUE AMERICA # 56-62) and has loaned the base to teams like the Doom
Patrol (DOOM PATROL # 21-62), the Legion of Super-Heroes (LEGION OF
SUPER-HEROES (fourth series) # 89-100) and Young Justice (JLA: WORLD
WITHOUT GROWN-UPS # 2 to YOUNG JUSTICE # 19).

And yet, space still has its allure. With the installation of a
Watchtower on the moon in issue # 4 of the current JLA series, the League
once again has an outpost in the heavens.

The Emerald Eye of Ekron claims to have existed "for an
incomprehensible time span" (LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (current) # 120).
"Were you but PART of a greater creature once, some prehistoric incarnation of the
Green ?" the Emerald Empress once asked the orb (LSH (1984 series) # 58).

The Eye was (re)discovered during an alien race's archaeological
expedition in the late 20th Century (Earth-time) and, en route back to the
aliens' planet, it killed the entire crew. The deaths may have been an
accident. When discovered by L.E.G.I.O.N. member Garryn Bek, the Eye was
sending an electrical charge through one of the victims in a futile
attempt to revive him. In any event, Bek was selected by the Emerald Eye
to be its new host (L.E.G.I.O.N.# 11-12). The Eye soon developed an
affection for Bek's wife, Marij'n, and allowed both to channel its power
(# 17). After taxing its energy to the limit in order to expel the
Computer Tyrants (in a humanoid vessel known as Mister Starr) from the
planet Talok VIII, the Eye vanished (# 22) and the residual energy housed
in Garryn Bek was exhausted soon after (# 26).

During the 28th Century, the Emerald Eye of Ekron was the subject of a
fierce civil war on the planet Venegar. The legend of its power still
tantalized natives such as the Empress more than two hundred years later
(LEGIONNAIRES # 37).

By the 29th Century, the Eye had been enslaved by Mordru, who regarded
the orb as a mere object of power rather than a sentient being. After
Mordru's defeat (LEGIONNAIRES # 48), the Emerald Eye eventually found
itself in the possession of the centuries-old Scavenger. Late in the 30th
Century, it was freed from its containment box during a clash with the
Legion of Super-Heroes (LSH (current) # 74) and established a bond with
Shrinking Violet for an extended period of time (behind the scenes in
LEGIONNAIRES # 31 and explicitly in LSH (current) # 83 through
LEGIONNAIRES # 50).

It eventually resurfaced, gathering the Empress, the Persuader, Tharok
and Validus to unite with it as the new Fatal Five. Rather than relying on
his union with human hosts, the Eye (displaying its speech capabilities)
sought to strengthen its own abilities by serving a host, "one with simple
aims and strong desire." He chose the Empress (LSH # 120).

Origin possibilities:

1) THE WIZARDS OF EKRON:

The origin of the Emerald Empress of Earth-One was recounted by Jim
Shooter in ADVENTURE COMICS # 352:

"Venegar was the site of the long-dead Ekron civilization, whose astounding scientific
secrets were all lost ... until" a native named Sarya discovered them in the mid-30th
Century. Thanks to "an ancient map," she was able to locate the Crypt of
the Eye. Resting on a green pedestal was the Emerald Eye of Ekron.

"The Eye possessed nearly unlimited power. To Sarya, it was a means of
fulfilling her ambitions. ... It took only a few hours for Sarya to seize
power and become the Emerald Empress. But her tyranny caused the people
(of Venegar) to rise in rebellion." Observing that "even the Emerald Eye
can't cope with so MANY super-weapons," Sarya fled into outer space and
began looting space merchants to help bankroll the army she intended to
gather. With the Eye behind her, the Emerald Empress became "the most
wanted female criminal in the history of the universe."

The facts that the Eye might be sentient and that it used human beings
as hosts were revealed in Sarya's final appearance (Paul Levitz's LSH
(1984 series) # 57-58). As the conflict with the Legion escalated, Sarya
became a host for the globe's power, "burning with the energy from the
Emerald Eye." The transformation was not without its price. "I've absorbed
so much of your power these past few days, I can FEEL the change in my
body," the Empress told the Eye. "I'm fading. You're killing me you silent
monster -- and you won't EVER let me die, will you ?"

When the Eye wouldn't grant Sarya the death she craved, the Empress
approached Sensor Girl. "I know MORE of the Eye than you might DREAM,
Sarya -- for Orando is STEEPED in the magic of old, and I know the LEGENDS
of Ekron -- of wizards whose own magic CONSUMED them." Observing that
"what the Eye cannot see, it cannot possess," Sensor masked Sarya and the
world from the Eye. With a feeble "bzzzt," the Emerald Eye went black and
Sarya withered into a crone and collapsed into a cloud of dust (# 58).

Leland McCauley later formed a new Fatal Five, complete with an Emerald
Empress (Ingria Olav) that he'd selected and provided with the Eye
(LEGIONNAIRES # 4). Olav, however, proved to be an unskilled coward and
she was slain by the energy of a second Eye (# 5), one that had selected
Cera Kesh to be its mistress (# 3-4). "Sadly for you," Cera told McCauley,
"eyes comes in pairs" (# 5). After convincing McCauley's Eye to align with
her, Cera flew into outer space with plans to revive the Fatal Five. "The
two Eyes BELONG together. They were MEANT to serve a single master ... The
Emerald Empress" (# 6).

Any details that might have been provided in regard to the Wizards of
Ekron and the pair of Emerald Eyes were abandoned when the 2995 line of
continuity was scrapped in the wake of ZERO HOUR.

2) KRYPTON:

While the Emerald Eye could be momentarily immobilized by a number of
different external options, its only INTERNAL weakness was Kryptonite! In
some manner, the radioactive rock played havoc with the Eye, rendering it
virtually motionless (ADVENTURE # 352) or leaving it dazed (SUPERBOY &
THE LSH # 247). Curiously, the Eye was capable of synthesizing K-radiation
for offensive purposes without any ill effect (SUPERBOY & THE LSH #
231 and LSH # 303). Could the Emerald Eye be a lost artifact from
Superman's home world ?

3) THE GOLDEN EYE OF EFFRON:

Effron was a mystic from the other-dimensional kingdom of Veliathan who
clashed with Superman and Green Arrow twice in the early 1970s (WORLD'S
FINEST # 210 and ACTION # 437) and, in an unrecorded duel, Superman and
Batman. In the latter, the heroes confiscated the mage's hypnotic Golden
Eye, an over-sized, oval-shaped eye that vanished from the Man of Steel's
Fortress (SUPERMAN # 268) and ended up, in miniaturized form, on the
forehead of a would-be super-hero. Corrupted by power, the wizard refused
to give up the power even after slimy green fallout from the magical
energy began to blanket Metropolis. Luring the mage into space at a high
rate of speed, Superman stopped short, came up behind him and grabbed the
wizard. He stopped ... but the eye kept rocketing forward into deep space.
The would-be hero regained his senses once the link with the Golden Eye
was broken (SUPERMAN # 273).

The similarities (Effron/Ekron; the parasitic aspect of the Eye; the
emerald fallout; the last glimpse of the Eye speeding into space) are
enough to make an argument for a possible connection.

The Green Glob was a sentient emerald wraith that served as the
catalyst in a series of stories in TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED # 83-98, 100,
102-103. In 1991, Gorilla Grodd captured the Glob ("some sort of cohesive
plasma. Invisible, odorless, intangible, yet an almost LIMITLESS source of
energy") and used it to alter reality (ANGEL AND THE APE (second series) #
3). Grodd's grandson, Sam Simeon, attempted to "interface" with the Glob,
which represented itself as three green objects, two green plates with a
green globe sandwiched between them. The orb had a gaping hole in its
center to simulate a lantern effect but, in something of an optical
illusion, it sometime resembled a green eyeball.

The entity, Sam learned, was an early creation of the Guardians of Oa,
one of a series of "undetectable machines ... incredibly powerful machines
... capable of warping the very nature of reality ... a teaching machine
(that) temporarily warp(s) reality in order to teach a lesson."

Sam hoped to convince the Green Glob to heal the heroine Dumb Bunny,
whose neck had been broken by Grodd, but the entity refused. "I cannot
perform counter to my programming. Once a lesson has been learned, the
fabric of reality must be restored."

"But ... I ... I wish to learn what a permanent change would do to your programming."

Love this thread! Since the list of unanswered entries is getting shorter,
I'll suggest some more characters. Like many of you, I made lists of
characters years ago but didn't think to take extensive notes. These are
the most obscure I could find as I quickly skimmed my files.

And if that were not enough, here are some honorable mentions. (The
following only appeared in one or two panels each and probably don't merit
full bios, but I wanted to include them for completeness.)

History: When a new criminal organization, the Octopus Gang, starts a
crime wave across the nation, crackpot inventor Albert Elwood decides to
use his skills to help stop the crooks. Elwood creates a number of
fantastic weapons and dons the costumed identity of the Crimson Avenger,
continuing the legacy of a previous lawman of the same name.

When the Octopus Gang attempts to steal gold dust from a stage coach re-enactment
in Gotham City, Batman and Robin are ready and waiting. As the dynamic duo
race towards the hirelings, the Crimson Avenger suddenly appears firing a
fire-gun, the flames from the gun encircling the crooks. He then uses
another device which sends out bubbles of force with which to enclose the
bandits. The criminals duck, and the bubbles smash into Batman and Robin,
enabling the criminals to escape. The Crimson Avenger introduces himself,
apologizing for his "small error", then departs.

Later, the Octopus Gang tries to rob a Metropolis Bank. As Superman decends upon the crooks
getaway car, the Crimson Avenger drives up and sends out a robot ram's
head to smash the vehicle. The ram's head runs amuck, distracting Superman
and allowing the gang to once again escape. Using his x-ray vision,
Superman learns the Crimson Avenger's secret identity. Before Superman can
lecture him, the new hero drives off.

After returning to his workshop, Elwood reads the newspaper and learns that
his exploits are being mocked. He becomes enraged by their ungratefulness and
vows to show everyone.

That night in Metropolis, Superman, Batman, and Robin meet to
discuss stradegy in handling the Octopus crisis. Superman's hearing picks
up an alarm from the Ancient Arts Museum. The trio corner the crooks in
the museum. As they are about to capture them, the Crimson Avenger
appears. As he shoots his new weapon, a balloon effect ray, he begins to
sneeze wildly. The sneezing throws off his aim, causing the ray to hit
Superman and Batman. The two heroes become bloated and float helplessly up
in the air. The Crimson Avenger apologizes to Robin, stating that he is
allergic to the nearby roses. Realizing that the roses are artificial,
Robin accuses the Avenger of faking the sneeze. The Crimson Avenger
punches Robin and escapes.

Later, after the balloon effect wears off, Superman, Batman, and Robin look
for clues in the Elwood's workshop.
Batman deduces that Elwood has been captured by the Octopus Gang and
replaced by one of its members. The heroes begin to trail the gang by
following traces of a broken ink bottle. Meanwhile, in the crooks'
hideout, the Octopus orders the false Crimson Avenger to check on Elwood.
Moments later, the heroes burst in. The Octopus orders his men to attack,
while he runs towards a large wall switch. The Octopus orders the heroes
to stop, warning them that the switch will detonate a bomb hidden under
Metropolis' streets. Just then, a man dressed in the garb of the Crimson
Avenger emerges from the back room weilding a kryptonite ray rifle. He
tells the Octopus to have the others tie up Batman and Robin, while he
keeps Superman at bay with the kryptonite. When the Octopus removes his
hand from the switch, the Crimson Avenger blasts him instead! After the
criminals are rounded up, the Crimson Avenger reveals himself to be
Elwood! Elwood explains that the phoney Avenger was distracted when the
heroes burst in, enabling him to use the knockout gas in his gimmick ring
to gain the upper hand. Elwood states that he is hanging up his costume
and returning to his inventing career, leaving the crimefighting to them.

Weapons and Powers: The Crimson Avenger's arsenal included: a fire-gun
which generated an expanding circle of fire; a bubble-gimmick which
enabled him to ensnare criminals in a bubble of force; a robot ram's head
used to smash cars; a balloon ray which caused a temporary bloating and
floating effect; a kryptonite ray rifle; and a gimmick ring containing
knockout gas.

Comments: The second Crimson Avenger appeared only once. He states that
he took the name of a former lawman, suggesting that this tale took place
on Earth-Two.

TyphoidDaveMember

posted December 18, 2000 01:51 AM

This thread is a treasure.

I am looking forward to Terra-Man.

HellstoneMember

posted December 18, 2000 03:23 AM

Okay...this was the last time I attempted to number them...

Well, how about starting Round III in a new thread?

/ola

XanadudeMember

posted December 20, 2000 09:23 PM

Shall we start a thread III then?

outpost2New Member

posted December 20, 2000 11:08 PM

Thanks to the poster named Eduardo, Round I was rescued from oblivion.

So that it doesn't happen again, I downloaded everything from Round I and Round II and
have been formatting it in order to establish an independent archive that won't be deleted
by DC when the threads grow too old. The files were so big, however, that I editted them a
bit to save space, removing sig files and kudos, fixing spelling errors, and the like.
(They're now a mere 225K and 460K, respectively)

So, if we start a Round III, I can finalize the first two rounds (as well as Mikishawm's
"Golder Agers Today" post, which references other obscure golden age heroes) and upload them
to a permanent location by this weekend.

Hellstone, since you started this thread, would you do the honors and start a Round III?

taz_19632000Member

posted December 20, 2000 11:21 PM

I was able to print all 71 pages of Round I through school.
So I give a special thanks to Eduardo.